True Family
by Venquine1990
Summary: Sly has spent 8 and 1/2 years in the Ancient Egyptian Desert when suddenly he finds himself back in his own era of time. Yet, like with him 8 1/2 years have passed here as well and a lot of things have happened to Sly's friends - and even more to Carmelita. Now that Sly's back, will Carmelita have the partner she wanted when she made him Constable? RATED M FOR GOOD REASON!
1. The Desert

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **Yes! Another new story! I know that you're awaiting the Extravaganza for Keyblade's Light, but my fires of interest in Harry Potter is currently quite low and almost dead when it comes to Kingdom Hearts. When it comes to Percy Jackson, does the flame reignite and die out from time to time so A Divine Hogwarts still has a chance.  
**_ _ **Now, as for this story; the start was what kept me from writing it for quite a while as I knew what I wanted for chapter 01, but the methods of getting it done were a little unclear to me until recently. It also has SlyxCarmelita, but Carmelita – won't really be Carmelita as I want to use this story to create a new OC of my own.  
**_ _ **Wish me luck,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **True Family**_

 _ **Ancient Egypt, 1200 BC  
**_ _ **Sly's POV**_

It's been eight and a half years.

Eight and a half years since I swore to Cyrille Le Paradox that I would find him. Eight and a half years since I spoke those two simple, but meaningful words to Carmelita Fox: "I know, me too." Eight years since my Ancestor, Tennessee Kid Cooper saved both Carmelita and me from being thrown into a never ending time journey.  
Since then have I been stranded in the desert of Ancient Egypt. Since then have I been working my hardest to avoid my Ancestor, Slytunkhamen the first, his scheming and his family, out of fear of causing more alterations to the timeline. Since then have I simply worked my hardest to survive each and every day.  
Yet while I hope, pray and beg whatever force is willing to listen to have my friends come fetch, does waking up to a sand-drawn version of the fox of my dreams make it harder and harder for me to keep believing in that hope, those prayers and those begging pleads. Still, my loyalty to my friends has prevailed and I won't let that stop.

Of course, being the Master Thief that I am and coming from a line of Master Thieves as long as my own, means I simply can't be sitting still as doing so would probably make me the first person to ever actually die of boredom. No, I kept busy and about a year after getting stuck in the desert did I start making reputation for myself.  
The silent Constable do the people of the villages where I live close-by to call me, a title that made me decide that I would return to my actual profession of being a Constable for Interpol – but then with regular meetings with my actual team – once I came back to my own time and this plan has kept me going ever since.  
The most prominent reason for me wanting to retake the career that is quite the complete opposite of my family's profession is because of the same woman who's sandy picture I fall asleep next to and wake up to every morning for the last 7 years and nine months; Carmelita Montoya Fox, a creature that stole my heart upon our first meeting.  
It had been the Fox that had introduced me to the life of a Constable and while it had made me completely give up on my friends, did it also give me the one chance I have wanted for since meeting the fox five years earlier; a chance to be with her and live by her side, even though she believed me to have lost my entire memory.

It had not been pretty when, a year later, the fox had discovered that I had been lying to her, even though the first month of our stay together I really had been suffering from memory loss, yet it hadn't been until I had decided to finish Le Paradox off and that Carmelita feared for me that we actually apologized to each other.  
By now, am I just hoping with all that I am that the fox will remember that one moment between us when I come back to her and the time zone I belong to, yet eight and a half years of waiting does it get harder and harder for me to keep my head up high and my belief of where I truly belong as strong as when I arrived here.  
And to make matters worse does it seem as if my leaps of doubt and loss of self-confidence are affecting both my physical health as well as all the abilities that I have been trying to learn and perfection since I was eighteen years old and reclaimed what is rightfully my family's heritage; the Thievius Raccoonus.

And let me tell you, the combination of those bouts and their after-effects would make anyone willing to stop hoping and to start praying and, at times, even begging with great pain and desperation as I have had to redraw the sand-picture of my beloved several times, it having become erased due to the tears I have shed.  
And it's not just a drawing of the gorgeous fox that at times keeps me strong and at times brought me to tears as I also worked the last six years and actually made a perfect replica of my beloved fox out of sand, several gems I have been able to steal, odorless paint stolen from Royal painters and a few bamboo and palm tree branches.  
These two have been my rock for the last eight and a half years and yet, waking up to nothing but a self-drawn picture, coming home to a motionless statue and falling asleep to that same picture after a while makes you wonder if you even deserve the chance to get back to the person you created these masterpieces out of.

By now have I left my simple little one room shack and am I strolling through the desert, my self-made robe wrapped around my entire form from the tip of my grey-furred ears down to my black-furred feet and hiding my only set of my old outfit under it; the blue shirt, hat, gloves and golden belt keeping my morals strong.  
I am walking through the sandy floors of the Sahara desert, having learned pretty much come to memorize the entire north to north west to south west to south part of the desert in the years that I have travelled through it and knowing, almost by instinct, where I can be and where I can't come in case of Slytunkhamen being there.  
Looking around at the desert lands, the dunes of sand and stone, the rocks that stick out here and there, the few mountains that have been made due to sandstorms pushing large formations of rocks together and the few, rare plants that grow between all of this, do I release what feels like the ten-thousandth sigh of my life as I whisper:

"I can't. I just can't take it anymore. There is only so much I can take and eight and a half years alone when you've been a team player your whole life is something I just can't take a moment longer. I just don't want to wait and see year eight come to an end. I – I just – I just – I – I just want – want to – I just want to go home!"  
I shout in near desperation, not caring whether I am alone or in the middle of a crowded area, only to suddenly hear a deep baritone voice shout: "We just want to go home!" Making me look down as I had fallen to my knees and raised my face to the sky as I shouted and while I stand back up, do I whisper to myself:  
"A lot can happen, but that cannot be a coincidence." And while wondering what destiny could have in store for me, do I rush for where I heard the voice coming from, the sound of multiple hooves clomping on the sand making me dive and crawl through the desert sands as I can hear that these hooves are running in circles.

I arrive at a dune overlooking the spot where I heard the voice shouting from and see two foxes, one male the other female, being surrounded by a whole troop of camels upon which several brute looking dogs are riding, the male fox being the father and the one to have shouted as he holds his little girl close to his side.  
Then, while the fox defiantly glares at the one he must have shouted this at, does the large overly muscular husky that seems to be the leader of the group of criminals laugh, his voice sounding like sand scratching over stone before he says: "Forget it, my family has waited 500 years for your return and now – your treasure is ours."  
These words both infuriate and confuse me and while the male fox glares at the husky and his men, do I draw my cane from my back, pulling myself up just a little and raising my arm behind me before throwing my cane, my swing causing for it to spin on its axis like a Boomerang and the golden bend top catching my target.  
The front leg of one of the camels gets caught by my cane while the rest of the weapon keeps spinning and causes for the animal to trip over its own front legs, the camels running behind it not able to stop in time and causing for a mountain of animals and crooks to form in front of the terrified father and his little girl.

My cane, having unhooked itself from the camel's leg thanks to the strength of my throw, then swings itself back to my open hand and while putting it back on my back and making sure that I keep out of sight of my latest rescue targets, do I deepen the tone of my voice and shout: "Get out of here! You're safe now GO!"  
And while making sure to run around the dunes that surround the two and their now unconscious or semi-conscious attackers, do I swiftly run past several other dunes and large rock formations, not really caring what happens with the two and deciding to see if anyone else in these parts of the desert needs my help.  
For the rest of the day do I attack a few more men and women that obviously have the wrong intentions, save a damsel from actually being raped, find a few hidden treasures some miles away from unimportant villages and even find two incredible amber stones that, in shadowy light, look like the chocolate brown eyes of my beloved.

These last two, do I put in the front pocket of my robe, while everything else is put in the brown backpack I hide under my robe and while every now and then I felt as if I was being watched or followed, is this no new feeling for a man of my career and do I constantly make sure to quickly disperse of this feeling.  
I return to my simple one-room shack and lay my backpack under the threadbare blanket that I knitted a few years ago, after heisting some fabric along with some ancient sowing equipment, before focusing on what I believe to be most important and precious to my entire house; the life-size statue of my beloved Carmelita.  
I move over to where I build it, just near the sand and stone made stove that I was able to build about a few weeks after finishing the place itself, and wipe the paint out of the sand of her face before pressing the two amber gems into where her eyes are, using some black paint to make her pupils before smiling at my handiwork.

More and more over the last two years has the statue gone to look like the real deal, yet at the same time it still misses just so much; the way her eyes burn with fire when she's angry, the power with which she puts her hands on her hips, the actual determination that is shown through her form when she stands tall and proud.  
None of these things can be shown through some paint or gems, even if I have been trying my hardest ever since I first build the thing and just like every other time that I've added something new and better to the statue, do I grab the set of binoculars that functions as a camera and a communication device at the same time.  
I lift the device over my eyes, take a few steps back and then take a brilliant picture, feeling hurt when I see the words _communication error_ appear on screen as they prove that the camera's ability to send my picture to Bentley is unable to function, further proof that I am much and much too far away from my best friend and brother.

I sigh at this as I put the device back in my hip pouch and mutter: "Oh Carmelita, even if it isn't really you is the visage of you the only thing that keeps me strong. Just – just a few hours ago, I was ready to give it up and throw myself into the strongest and fiercest sandstorm I could find. I was ready to just end it all, you know.  
But – but I know I can't. I can't leave you behind or Bentley or Murray. I – I know it's hard but I have to keep faith. You and my friends have never let me down before and I – I know I'm making it extremely hard for Bentley to find me, seeing how hard I am trying not to end up in one of the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus."  
I then smile again as I had lowered my head and closed my eyes in defeat, before I say: "But you know what, darling." And with that do I walk forward, let one of my hands go over the fur on her cheek which is made out of hard sand and mud to make sure it doesn't fall off at the slightest of touches and say:

"Just seeing you here makes it all the more worth it and makes me more than willing to wait another day." And with that do I press my lips against the rubies I used for the statue's lips, the cold feeling of these two rocks doing nothing to cool of my happiness at the fact I can at least express my love for the fox in someway.  
I keep the kiss going as long as I can hold my breath and then smile at the gorgeous brown pieces of amber once again before moving over to my little self-made stove, which is pretty much just some logs with a pot hanging over it and throw in the few pieces of meat and vegetable that I was able to steal today.  
Stealing food had never been something I thought I would have to resort to, but after realizing that Slytunkhamen had yet to even write the first page of the Thievius Raccoonus, did I make it part of my life here, something I still don't like, but that I also no longer feel guilty over as it's pretty much my only way to stay healthy.

I make my meal for today, all the while talking to the statue as if my beautiful vixen is in the room with me and ignore that same feeling that I felt before as I just don't believe in the chance of anyone being able to follow me to this little rundown shack or even finding it interesting enough to take a closer look.  
The rest of the day passes gently and without any hassle, something I have become used to as my little shack is build a lot of miles away from pretty much all of the villages on this half of the Sahara desert and then go to bed, which is pretty much just some mud, a bit of straw, my backpack and the threadbare blanket I knitted.  
I lie myself down under the threadbare blanket and gaze with great love at the statue, whispering: "Goodnight my love, I'll be home soon." Before pulling the blanket over my shoulder and lying myself down, falling asleep and once again dreaming of all the things I can do once I return home to my friends and true love.

 _ **That night  
**_ _ **Male Fox's OC**_

The whole day since he saved us have my daughter and I worked our hardest to keep to the tail of the raccoon that stopped us from being robbed. The raccoon seems to have sensed us every now and then as he managed to evade us two times today, but the third time, he failed and we managed to follow him home.  
Yet the home that the raccoon lives in makes the houses of Egyptian slaves look like royal palaces. Only a single room, in which the man has nothing but a cupboard, a bed made out of mud and a blanket and a statue made out of sand that apparently represents the one person – a fox – he loves with all of his being.  
The raccoon spoke to the statue while he worked on his stolen meal and just the fact that this poor person, who has actually saved us, relies on stolen goods to live his life makes me make a decision that I know my daughter will support and that will make the ancestors I've learned of that lived in the 300 years before me very proud.

My daughter and I wait until the strange raccoon has fallen asleep, the fact that he tells her he'll be home soon making me wonder why he would be living in this threadbare little place if he has a home elsewhere and at the same time making me very proud of the decision I made as it collaborates with the stranger's words.  
I sneak into the raccoon's house alongside my daughter, making certain to step over the small, almost invisible rope that is strung around the pathway directly in front of the door and then creep over to where the raccoon is asleep, pulling a long thin ruby red gem out of my own robe and gently lying it in the Raccoon's hand.  
My daughter then moves over to the Raccoon's other side and puts both of her hands over his, her eyes focused as she had been the one to use this crystal during our journey home and while our entire treasure, that our family has earned over the last 300 years, is still outside, do neither of us care for what happens to it now.  
Instead of that, does my daughter close her eyes as she focuses on the way her hand, that of the raccoon and the gem are now interlinked with each other and while her muscles are taut, proving she is ready to release the raccoon at a moment's notice, do I smile at how adapt my daughter has learned to work with the crystal's power.

"Bring this Raccoon home, bring this raccoon home, bring this Raccoon home." My daughter chants to herself, her voice echoing through the same little shack and the crystal lights up under her and the stranger's hand before to the shock of us both a blue maelstrom appears under the sleeping raccoon, making him fall.  
The backpack that he hid under the blanket also falls into the vortex, but while our family's Homing Crystal gets sucked along, does the maelstrom disappear once these two items and their owner have been sucked in, making my daughter and me share a shocked look as we never experienced any magic such as this.  
"Our crystal has powers unlike any we ever imagined. But – where did that Raccoon come from anyway?" I ask my daughter, now feeling sure I can talk normally seeing that our reason for muttering has vanished and my daughter shrugs before the vortex suddenly causes for one last wind to blow the blanket into her face.

This makes me want to chuckle, part of me highly amused by how – what I can only describe as – destiny wishes to repay my daughter for her wondrous deed, but then realize that my feeling might be correct as there is actually a scroll of parchment attached to the blanket's underside and I quickly pluck it off of there.  
My little girl then pushes the blanket back on the ground, an annoyed look on her face that swiftly vanishes as she sees me unroll the scroll I found and while she goes to sit next to me, do I take a look at the scroll's intends, shocked beyond words to realize that it's actually a map leading all the way to the far west of Africa.

"This man lives away from home, keeps himself in a 1 room shack, saves people who can't protect themselves, lives off of stolen food and goods and travels between our great and powerful Egypt and the far west of Africa and back? Who is this person?" And then, just when I ask this question, do I see one word in the bottom corner: _Cooper_

* * *

 _ **READ THIS!  
Wow, that went better than expected and I will very strongly admit, the father's POV was not intended when I first decided to start writing this. Also, the end part here? It's what made SLytunkhamen start the Thievius Raccoonus and what made his son create the Cooper Vault, which in recent times can be found near America.  
**_ _ **Think about it. Slytunkhamen the second was the Founder of the Cooper Vault, but he lived in Egypt, which is in the North, North-east of Africa, while in recent times the Cooper Vault can be found near Miami, which lies to the West of Africa. So over time a part of the West of Africa must have broken off and moved to America.  
**_ _ **Anyway, next chapter will have Sly waking up back in Paris, his hand over the Homing Crystal and how our favorite Raccoon responds to suddenly being home. And if you think I made that father and daughter fox just to have some OC's helping Sly, think again. Their family line is in direct contact – with Carmelita.  
**_ _ **Furthermore, would I like everyone to know that, for the rest of the month, all of my stories will be on Hiatus. Not because I don't want to post anything, but because I want to do you guys a favor. Head for my account page AND VOTE MY POLL! I will keep a close eye out and on the 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **of July will I answer your prayers.  
**_ _ **VOTE PLEASE,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	2. The Reunion

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **I love this story, but for the sake of next chapter do I need to make one very vital warning: THIS IS FANFICTION! Things like, you make love you get a kid, you make love again, you get another kid – yeah, I tweaked that a little to make this story work as, above all else, I always considered Sly to be a real family man.  
**_ _ **Also this will be my new update schedule. I will post one chapter per story at the end of every month, but this does not mean that all of my stories will be updated every month, just that I will update any new chapters that are done at the end of the month. So if you don't see your favorite story get an update, just wait till next month.  
**_ _ **Hope that's clear,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

Waking up like I always do, do I feel that there is something different, yet I pay this no mind as I yawn, turn around and climb out of my self-made bed, only part of me registering how I suddenly have some altitude between my bed and the floor, but my mind not registering this as important as I am just not a morning person.  
Instead of that, do I yawn again, twisting and stretching my arms in front of me and over my head before getting up and moving through the wooden door, that for some reason feels colder than I expected it. I then, again, get blinded by the morning sun and squint my eyes in pain before starting a daily ritual.

I move my hand up to my ear and put two of my fingers into my appendage, pressing them against a small device I was able to keep and that has kept its functions throughout all the years that I've been stuck in Egypt, regardless of the device has a technology superiority to that of where I live of at least three millennia.  
I then activate the small communications device and while a small voice inside of me whisper: "Why keep doing this?" Do I ignore this voice and mutter: "Bentley, you up, buddy?" A sentence I have been repeating, more to myself than anyone else for the last eight years and to which I have yet to hear a response.  
Not expecting any response today either, do I still wait a few minutes before suddenly I get the shock of a lifetime as a grumpy, nasally voice mutters back: "Yeah, yeah, I'm up, I'm up." And just the sound of this voice shocks every last bit of sleepy drowsiness out of me, making me actually open my eyes wide.

And as I do, do they widen even further as I do not see the usual desert with rocks, rock formations, small mountains, a few lizards and lots and lots of sand, but instead of that am I looking at a small side alley that is located between two large four-story houses and that has a trench running through it that runs straight to a majestic metal tower.  
Looking up at the Eifel Tower, the sole reason I chose this room all those years ago when Bentley, Murray and I first found this hideout, does my whole body sag down with incredulous shock and relief as the fact that, somehow, I have finally returned home hits me like one of the fists of my old nemesis named Muggshot.  
I cave down onto my balcony, leaning my back against what I now recognize as my glass-made balcony doors and while my arm is as limp as the rest of my body, are my two fingers still pressed against the ear-communicator as, from the other end of the call, I can hear my turtle brother grumbling to himself as he says:

"Seven thirty. Who wakes up at seven thirty? I don't even have to bring Matthew to school today, that's Murray's job. Why would anyone want to wake me at seven thirty?" And while I barely register what the name Matthew can imply, do I try with all my might to find my voice again as I stutter in sheer shock and amazement:  
"B-Be-Bentley?" The turtle on the other end grumbling and sleepily answering: "What, Sly?" Before he himself seems to realize who's name he uttered and instantly my eardrum is shattered as his nasal voice says: "Wait – SLY?" And while I cringe, having not expected for his voice to come through so loudly, do I finally realize the truth.

"I'm home." Goes through my mind and apparently past my lips as well as Bentley starts to stutter like I did earlier and asks: "B-B-But – but h-h-h – but how?" And with that do I jump up, turn around and dash back to where I woke, checking my bed for any signs of technology or traces of magic before I spot it.  
A large, crystal shaped like a spire and ruby red in color lies where I had placed my hands late last night before falling asleep and I say: "It – it seems that – that someone visited me last night and – and used some kind of magical stone to send me back home. It – it must have been whoever gave me the sense of being followed."  
And while the other end of the line stays silent, do I put the gem on my hardboard bedside table, my heart soaring at the fact that everything in my room looks just like it did when I last came here and at the fact that everything is spotless clean, proving to me that my friends have been keeping my room ready for my return.

This fact makes tears appear in my eyes and I whisper: "You – you in your room, Bentley?" But then the same nasal voice sounds, not from the device in my ear, but from a point far ahead in front of me and says: "No Sly, look up." And when I do, looking up from my bed, do I see that my bedroom door is open to someone.  
A small stubble of brown and grey hair growing over his otherwise bald head, a half-circular ring of stubbles growing over his chin and part of his lower lip, a pair of very thick glasses, a green and beige colored shell and a wheelchair that looks even more advanced than last time I saw it. My buddy Bentley is smiling at me.  
Seeing how time has barely effected one of the three people most important to my heart, do I dash over my bed and run for the turtle, Bentley opening the board in front of him that is build into his wheelchair before I reach him and weep in his shoulder, all the happiness over the fact that I'm home at last overwhelming me.  
I hear Bentley's voice coming from my right as my brother in all but blood cries alongside me, my old robe turning wet on the shoulder and back and while trying not to crack his shell, do I wrap my arms around him in a desperate need to be close to my friend, hoping with all that I am that I won't wake and realize I'm just dreaming.

Still, the fact that Bentley is the first to meet with me proves this not to be true as all my dreams of coming home until now have always started with me waking besides Carmelita or finding her as I come home and this fact, more than anything else, makes for the largest grin I have ever sported to grow on my face.  
"Sweetie?" A soft voice that sounds less nasal than that of my brother then comes from my right and through my teary eyes do I gaze there, seeing a sea-blue colored creature that looks to be Bentley's height and who has long, curly blond hair that curls around what I can barely distinguish as a sea-blue and sandy brown shell.  
I wipe my eyes clean of tears and look again, recognizing the creature as a tortoise, who apparently recognizes me as well as her eyes grow wide behind her own thin-framed glasses before she asks: "Bentley, is – is that actually –?" And while I wonder if I ever met this interesting shelled creature before, does Bentley say:

"Yes Eleanor, it is. Sly's finally home." And these words make the female tortoise dash for the both of us, her speed impressing me before she hugs me tightly and says: "It's so wonderful to finally meet with you, Sly Cooper. Bentley has told me and Matthew so many stories about you while he desperately tried to find you."  
And while relieved to finally know that this is the first time this tortoise has met with me, does the name Matthew finally catch my interest and making me ask: "And Matthew is – who exactly?" Making Eleanor giggle, before we both look at Bentley in confusion as he tenses and nervously starts to cough as he says:  
"Ehm well, Matthew is – that – ehm – is to say. He – ehm – he's my son." And while shocked that my best friend has a son, does his behavior confuse me and I ask: "And you're ashamed of that?" But while Eleanor now looks at my turtle buddy with deep pain, does Bentley shake his head as if to get rid of a nasty fly and says:  
"No! no, that's – that's not it at all! At all! I – I love Matthew. I love him like I love Murray and Eleanor and you, Sly. I – I guess I was just – just afraid that – that if you found out about him –." And before my friend can fully explain himself, do I understand what he is so afraid to tell me and do I smile gently as I say:

"You thought me finding out about your son would give me the wrong impression on how hard you have been working the last few years to find me, am I right?" And the warm, understanding tone of my voice seems to calm Bentley down as he sighs in relief before he says: "Exactly, Sly. You read me like a book."  
To which I hug my brother close, my love for him wanting to express itself whenever and wherever possible now that I'm back home and I say: "Not even eight years apart can change that, pall. You and I and Murray, we're more than just a team. We're brothers and you know it." To which Bentley nods as he hugs me back with great strength.

Then another voice interrupts our little reunion as it yawns, the sound of a door opening and closing a few doors away and when I look up, do my eyes widen happily as a large pink Hippo with a small line of stubble going over his upper lip and brown hair that is cut in a style similar to that of an army soldier enters the hallway.  
The Hippo has his eyes closed, one hand in front of his yawning mouth and the other fisted above his head in a stretch before he groggily walks over, noticing Bentley and Eleanor, but – due to his sleep – missing the fact that I am here as well and because I want things to be back to normal more than anything, do I ask:  
"You up for some scrambled eggs, big guy?" And the yawning voice of my muscled friend Murray answers: "That'd be great, Sly." Before the guy gets the same shock as I must have given Bentley earlier and that he gave me as he stops in his tracks just one step away from the staircase down before swiftly turning his head my way.

His orange brown eyes widen as he sees me and before I can do more than just happily smile at him, does the muscular hippo have me in a near strangle hold, his eyes shedding tears at breakneck speed and his mouth speaking sentences that are nothing short of a jumbled mess thanks to how he gasps for air while talking.  
Feeling my lungs constrict due to his powerful muscles, do I try my best to keep breathing while hugging my best friend, but then his hold becomes too much and while gasping for air myself, do I say: "Murray – can't – can't breath. Let – let go – please!" To which Bentley shouts: "MURRAY, YOU'RE CHOKING HIM!"  
Making my best friend release me as quickly as he grabbed me, the pink skin of his muzzle turning red in embarrassed shame when he realizes that our little brainiac is indeed right and while putting a hand on my heart and lung area do I take deep breaths, my tears of happy love now mixed with those of the pain I felt when nearly choking.

I smile at my best friend and older brother as I say: "Those muscles of yours have definitely improved since we last met. Good on you, Big Guy." And while Murray gives me the hugest smile I have ever seen on his large face back, does Bentley squirm in guilt and say: "Sly, you – you have to believe me, we – we really tried finding you."  
But I didn't even mean the words as a slight or insult and smile in understanding at my best friend, realizing that our years apart must have cost him some of the self-confidence he grew after he became paralyzed and say: "I know you did, Bentley, and I also know just fine how hard I made it on you guys to do so."  
The turtle smiles as I sigh and say: "I ended up 8 years before the Thievius Raccoonus was supposed to exist, just two years after Slytunkhamen started making name for himself. I had to stay away from him as the Raccoonus had to be created. It's basically the mother of all history books and the start of my Family Legacy.  
I went and lived in the parts of Egypt where Slytunkhamen either had little to no name or where he just didn't want to be. I stayed there and made name for myself in a way I think only one of you would have been able to recognize and – if she's still the way I remember her – she's really not one to read history books thoroughly."

And with that do I ask the question that has been on my mind since I realized I was back in Modern Day Paris and happily ask: "So, how is my lovely Inspector doing anyway? Caught any big criminals since I disappeared? Helped you guys finding me? Tried arresting you, so she could keep cover while helping? Did you have to escape her?"  
Yet while my friends laugh at the crazy theories I throw out, does Murray answer: "Not really, Sly. She did change and things did happen, but the good Inspector hasn't really had reason to arrest us for the last few years. Her cooperation with us is no longer a crime and we make sure not to break the law around her, you know?"  
To which I tilt my head and ask: "Why not? Are heists really more fun without her chasing you guys?" To which Bentley answers: "Sly, you were always the one that enjoyed those chases, not us, remember?" But I just shrug and then recall what Murray said, making me curious as I ask: "So, what changed about her?"

But the way that Bentley gulps, Eleanor looks uncomfortable and Murray cringes in worry, makes my own worry grow, Bentley's words not helping as he says: "Maybe – it's better if she tells you." And with that does he grab his own Binocucom, while all kinds of scenarios start to run through my mind, increasing my worry.  
Eleanor seems to spot this and while Bentley apparently waits for Carmelita to pick up her Binocucom, does the Tortoise lie a hand on my elbow, as her short form doesn't allow her to reach any higher, and she says: "Don't you worry about her, Sly. She's perfectly fine and healthy, she just changed, that's all."  
But when I ask: "Changed how?" Does Eleanor keep silent and while clamping with all that I am to her earlier words, do I feel worry and relief fighting within me as Bentley says: "Ah, good morning. you think you four can catch a ride and come over here? I have the most amazing surprise waiting for you, standing right next to me."

I look at my paralyzed brother, wondering why he didn't call Carmelita by her name when he greeted her and Bentley turns his Binocucom my way, the smile that is on his face growing, making me know that Carmelita is seeing my form through the communication and sight-seeing device, which must be a real shock to her.  
Only then do I realize that the only way Carmelita can recognize me is my head and facial features as I am still wearing the Egyptian robe and while Bentley keeps his Binocucom aimed my way, do I hastily pull the robe off, feeling even more as if I'm back home as I reveal my old uniform hidden under the brown and beige robe.  
Murray, Bentley and Eleanor smile widely when they see my blue shirt with yellow turtle neck neckline, blue gloves with yellow trim, my brown backpack and red hip pouch and my blue boots that reach halfway up my lower legs before Bentley asks: "Does that convince you it's our buddy and favorite Master Thief?"

And the answer he gets apparently shocks him as he pulls the device off his face and says: "Apparently it does." Making me laugh as Murray asks: "She dashed off?" Bentley nods, but the fact that my beloved is about to see me again after 8 and a half years of me living in a small sand and mud made shack makes me realize something.  
"Murray, would you really mind if I postpone those eggs for tomorrow?" I ask in slight trepidation, my bigger friend looking at me confused and retorting: "No, why?" And while dashing for the bathroom, do I shout: "Cause I won't let Carmelita see me with eight and half years worth of sand stuck to my fur!  
I NEED A SHOWER!" I scream as I close the bathroom door behind me and while I have no doubt that I left a pair of shell-shocked people in my wake, does the sight of the stone and marble staircase feel like a real relief to the eye as simple spa's for the poor and oasis's with clear water just don't help making one feel truly cleaned up.

I then discard the stinking cloths that I have been wearing for the last eight years, if only to keep my hopes up for the chance of getting here and while throwing the ripped and dirty shirt, gloves, shoes and hat in the bin in the corner of the room, do I think: "I'm home now, so these signs of hope are no longer necessary."  
And while feeling as if I just closed off another chapter of my life, one that was filled with more emotional hardships than any I have ever had before, do I smile in relief as throwing the cloths away felt like lifting a really heavy weight off of my shoulders and with that new sense of emotional freedom, do I take my shower.

 _ **And there we have it!  
**_ _ **Sly's taking a shower and Carmelita's on her way to the Hideout. But what did Bentley mean when he asked her to take three others with her? And what changes was Murray talking about when he and Eleanor talked about the Fox? Remember, the Fox that brought Sly back has something to do with our lovely inspector.  
**_ _ **See you next time,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	3. Endora

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **Just want to let you all know this story is a lot harder than I expected, but that's what you get for creating a time-skip of eight years; a lot can happen in that time. What's even harder is writing about how the people of your story could or will respond once they meet each other again after that eight year time skip.  
**_ _ **And seeing the 'situation' Carmelita's in only kind of makes that harder, yet I really love a challenge like this as it won't be Carmelita who will be shocked and feel the need to adjust once the 'situation' has been revealed and explained. I'm leaving that little issue with – you guessed it – the newly returned Master Thief.  
**_ _ **Have Fun, Sly,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Bentley's POV**_

"I NEED A SHOWER!" These four words are definitely shocking and highly unexpected, but while Murray seems to consider this new turn of events to be quite humorous, does the loud noise of the slamming door also have a secondary effect as several other doors open, a various amount of creatures passing through them.  
One of them is a Marine Iguana that is known as Dimitri Loustreau, a famous scuba diver, who has been trying to helping us find Sly through his high and mighty connections and who has been visiting several auctions of valuable artifacts in the hopes of finding something we could use to get to the time period where Sly was residing.

The next person is a female Bison named Terry, who Murray met through his wrestling career and who is actually the abandoned daughter of some high-class official from Mexico. The official had wanted to make the perfect princess out of his daughter, yet marrying a hyperactive Buffalo had made this impossible.  
Yet the official had never given in to this fact and because only her mother understood how wrestling helped the young woman keep her own hyperactive state under control, did the two work together against the misguided image their husband and father had of her, that is until the man set them a terrible ultimatum.  
The ultimatum itself had been decent and in both options was the girl allowed to keep growing as a fighter, however she would also – either way – be forced to give up wrestling as the Bison had different fighting plans for his daughter, to the worry and fear of the mother and the terrified feelings of the daughter.  
To make matters worse had the Bison set this ultimatum onto mother and daughter through a live press conference and both mother and daughter agreed that there was only one appropriate answer; hiring a lawyer, denouncing the family name and fleeing the country – and later even the continent, allowing the woman to arrive in France.

There the female Bison had hidden the scandal that was her denouncement and had made fame for herself through wrestling before explaining this to the public, yet two days before she had made this announcement, was she set up in a fight against Murray and the way that each and every round ended in a tie made them fall for each other.  
The fact that Murray was a supposedly wanted criminal who worked with the world's greatest Master Thief had made it all the easier for the female Bison to make her statement and her father had, two days later, released another press conference where he uttered his sorrow, his acceptance and where he even wished her the best.  
This had all happened one year after Sly's disappearance and after getting married, did Murray and Alexandra become a United Wrestling Duo, which was halted for a few months two years later when Alexandra was proven to be pregnant, a little girl they named Angela being born five months later and who Murray referred to as his Little Angel.

Said little Angel is the third of the group to leave one of the rooms, her eyes blurry and one of her hands rubbing in one of her eyes as she yawns simultaneously with her mother, while Dimitri grumbles: "Who throws with door before 9 in morning? Has weirdo gone cracked?" And that gives me the perfect intro.  
I smile at the Iguana and ask: "I don't know, Dimitri, do you know anyone who you'd consider cracked?" And the answer: "Only Crackerbox and he still missing, no?" Makes me happily throw him my Binocucom as I had been able to snap a quick picture of Sly after he had thrown off the old and dusty robe he was wearing.  
The iguana fiddles with the device, almost dropping it and making small sounds of distress before he asks: "What's your game, man?" To which Murray replies: "The game is in the picture taken, Dimitri. Just take a look." And while his wife and daughter seem to become awake due to their curiosity, does Dimitri put the device over his eyes.

I activate my board computer and quickly return the picture I took to the front of the Binocucom's screen, the way that Dimitri's body tenses and he shouts: "IT'S CRACKERBOX! CRACKERBOX IS BACK! HE'S REALLY BACK!" Makes Murray's family shout in surprise before they both start smiling widely.  
The Iguana however seems too excited to just keep it with smiling and he takes little Angela's hand with one of his own and the other grabs Alexandra's before he happily starts dancing with them, me, Murray and Eleanor standing together and smiling widely as we all gaze at this, before suddenly I feel something near me.  
Looking to my side do I see my little turtle son, who has his mother's shell but most of my looks and even shares my subscription when it comes to the strength of my glasses as he asks: "Crackerbox – that's Sly Cooper, right? The man that fathered Sylvester, Dorea and Rin-Gin without even being here, right dad?"

And while the memory of those three kids – one of them nearing the age of 8, the other having just turned 6 years old and the other having turned 1 just two months ago – makes me smile widely before I say: "That's the one, Matthew. That's him." Before I suddenly decide to indulge in my son's special little ability.  
I turn to Sly's room and use one of my robotic arms to grab the crystal Sly had been holding earlier before I say: "Murray, grab some cloths for Sly. I think he's a little done wearing the ones he wore when he disappeared." And while my friend nods and heads for the wardrobe, do I retrieve the gem and turn to my son as I ask:  
"Matthew, what can you tell me of this here ruby? Sly says someone placed it with him last night and that it must have been what brought him home, but I've never seen anything like it. Do you know what it is, son?" And Matthew takes the crystal from my robotic hand, his eyes showing how his mind is whirling as he turns it in his hands.

"It's called the Homing Gem. It was created by the Bellamora Family in 1550 BC and collected a whole lot of energy over 300 years as the family travelled away from Egypt and across the globe, earning money and finding many kinds of treasure before using the Crystal's magic to travel back home safe and sound.  
However, just before the Bellamora family returned to their hometown, were they almost attacked and robbed, yet some stranger saved them and in return the family used the crystal to send this stranger home as he apparently lived poorer than any other person the father and daughter of the Bellamora line had ever seen.  
The crystal hasn't been seen since, but – I guess now we know why." The boy then ends and while I feel shocked, do I hit myself on the head and say: "So Sly lived in Egypt, but hid himself out of fear that his actions would make Slytunkhamen do something other than create the Thievius Raccoonus. No wonder we never found him."

My son nods, but then looks back at the crystal and hums before he says: "Apparently, after the father and daughter had returned the stranger home, they found a strange map that lead all the way to the west of Africa. Two years later they encountered a Raccoon that really resembled the stranger and handed him the map.  
The raccoon also heard the tale and swore that – if the stranger was indeed related – he would honor him and create a family to be proud of. Two years later he pulled a mayor heist before donating the map to his son, who traveled west, found a gigantic stack of gold and treasure and founded some kind on incredible Vault."

By now my friends and I are shocked senseless and I ask: "Sly saving the Bellamora line made them convince Slytunkhamen to create the Thievius Raccoonus and his map led to the founding of the Actual Cooper Vault? Are you sure of this, Matthew?" And my son nods, his eyes proving how serious he is about his words.  
"Sly was the first to make an alliance between the Bellamora's and the Coopers. Does – does that mean that he and –." Here my wife sneaks a glance at the closed bathroom door before she whispers: "Endora are meant for each other?" But while I have no doubt about her words having a strong sense of truth to them, do I say:  
"Highly possible, my love, but I know one thing for sure now and it makes all the guilt and inability I have felt over the last eight years be rid off my shoulders at long last. Sly's time travel was destiny. He is the Epitome of the Cooper Line and because of that –." And then a Spanish voice sounds from behind me as the female says:  
"Was Sly Cooper meant to start the Cooper Line and make sure they became as famous and notorious as they are today. Only my Ringtail can pull off something like that." And the words _my Ringtail_ makes me turn around and smile in pure loving delight at the woman who has come up to stand behind me with her kids.

Where the woman once had cobalt black hair with blue highlights, is the hair now soft brown that may look ruby red in the right light. Where her eyes were once chocolate brown, are they now purple colored with hints of gold. And where her ears were once orange tipped with black, are they now pure albino white.  
The rest of her fur is this same color, yet with hints of orange and brown flecked all over her body, giving her a bit of a camouflage look that she attempts to hide through a simple short-sleeved shirt and skin-tight pair of jeans, yet while the outfit hides most of her form, does it not hide the white furred tail that flicks behind her.  
Carmelita Montoya Fox had officially changed to Endora Bellamora a good six years ago, after the birth of her daughter, who she wished to name after her, but for who she was determined to get her own name and life back – as she refused to name her daughter after a character created by kidnappers and bullies.

These kidnapping bullies had been the once proud and honored Fox Family members, yet their association with the Kendo family had ruined them as the feud between the Kendo and the Bellamora line was well-known and when Carmelita gathered all of Paris together and asked them who they were faithful to, did all of Paris chose her.  
Her so-called parents had been shocked and Carmelita had grasped this opportunity, telling the whole city of what had happened; how she had been kidnapped at 3 months old, how she had been told this shortly before meeting Sly, how she had attempted to end it all, but had been told that, compared to the Fox Family reputation, she was nothing.  
Barkley had taken great offence to this last bit and Carmelita had begged the Parisians to believe her, for the sake of her family and her daughter, who she wanted to name Dorea and not Carmen, as Carmelita was just a character, but not the real person. Everyone, even the criminals the fox had arrested, had supported her.

The Fox and Endo Family had been arrested and the Bellamora's had been able to be a family once more. Since then had Barkley become like a semi-partner to the Cooper Gang and while Endora was still on Sly's case, did Barkley agree that, once Sly was found, compromises could be made so the family could be whole once more.  
And this fact makes me look at the three kids that are with Endora. Little Sylvester, who looks so like his father, bar the fact that the tips of his fur have his mother's white color and that the tip of striped tail is bend like that of a fox and colored albino white as well, the other stripes all either charcoal black or iron grey.  
Dorea, who has her father's grey fur, but her mother's specie and eye color, making for a pair of very striking and sometimes scary purple eyes to shine from a grey furred face, while her body is lean and slim, the short-sleeved dress she's wearing barely hiding the small amount of muscle the girl is already developing at the age of six.  
And finally Rin-Gin, who could very well be called Sly junior as practically everything about him is a resemblance to his father, bar the white tipped fur at the tip of his ears and tail and the fact that his grey fur is still covering his eyes and paws, the fur itself having yet to turn black like it is with his father and older brother.

All four of them are standing at the edge of the staircase, Endora's eyes teary and the eyes of her kids wide as they seem to realize why they are here and what is about to happen before Sylvester asks: "Is – is it true, Uncle Bentley? Is – is dad – is he – is he –?" But the lad seems too doubtful to ask the question and I smile and say:  
"Yes Sylvester, he's finally home.""Where is he?" Dorea asks and Murray answers: "Turning our bathroom into a mud pool." Making us all look at him before he shrugs and says: "What? It's true. That place would make a Hawaiian swamp look like a kiddy sandbox after some drizzle. Sly's constantly flushing the sand away."  
And while Rin-Gin, covered in a large blue blanket with Raccoon faces embroidered on, tilts his head on his mother's shoulder, do I ask: "So he won't be out of there anytime soon, will he?" Murray shakes his head and says: "Not for the next hour, I'd say. Better just head downstairs and make some breakfast while we wait."

And while Dimitri, Angela and Alexandra finally stop dancing, do Endora, Eleanor, Matthew and I nod, Matthew taking Angela from Dimitri and helping her downstairs as the poor girl sprained her ankle the other day while the rest of us follow them and move downstairs, Dimitri starting breakfast as he took over this chore after Sly vanished.  
The Iguana seems determined to go all out now that his Gang leader has returned and little under an hour later do we have a breakfast table filled with all kinds of food, from French toast, to buttered scones, to several kinds of eggs, to bacon and eggs, to waffles, to several kinds of cereal and several kinds of drinks and milk.  
"We're having breakfast, not throwing a party." Eleanor tries to say, but Dimitri retorts: "Crackerbox is back, of course we're throwing a party!" And while my wife hits herself on the head, do we all smile at the Iguana before a male voice says: "Thank Dimitri, good to see you haven't changed a bit." And we all look at the door.

Sly is standing there, his fur still a little wet and a few clutches of sand still stuck to the fur around his face, yet in his blue shirt, gloves, peasants cap, boots and golden belt with silver buckle, he looks every bit the notorious master thief that the whole gang and I have been looking desperately to find for the last eight years.  
Sly's eyes roam across the table, his eyes shining happily when he sees Murray having Alexandra sitting on one side of him and Angela on the other, but while he tilts his head at the sight of the baby Raccoon, the little female fox and the male foxcoon, do his eyes shine like amber and does his tail whack happily at seeing Endora.  
Instantly I fear and wonder how my Gang leader and brother will respond to seeing his old rival and flame looking so different, yet while I take comfort in how happy the guy seems at seeing the fox, does he calmly walk over and shock her as he kisses her full on the lips before lovingly whispering: "Good to see you, gorgeous."

And while this simple action makes everyone look shocked, does Sly just walk past her, sit himself down and take some of the meals offered around us. Eleanor seems the first to get over her shock and asks: "Sly?" The Raccoon humming as he takes some jam and smears it across his buttered toast and my wife continues:  
"You're not – shocked?" To which the man answers: "Bentley called her over, didn't he?" And while most of us are shocked at such a simple answer, does Murray say: "But – but she really changed." And Sly retorts: "Eight years have passed. Do you think I expected her to be the same? Of course not. You guys changed too, you know."  
And while Murray runs a hand through his military cut hair and I rub the half-circular ring of stubble that runs over my chin, does Dimitri ask: "So you – you not against her changed looks, Crackerbox?" To which Sly lies his buttered toast down and suddenly strikes Endora with a strong look, shocking her before he asks:

"You still working for Interpol?" Everyone looks at him and Endora answers: "Yes." To which the Raccoon goes on: "You still hot on my case?" And Endora answers: "Yes, and on wherever it is you've been the last eight years." The raccoon nods, but doesn't bat an eye at the strong tone of the fox's voice as he goes on:  
"You helping Bentley and the others catching criminals that try to hurt us or try to do things we Coopers just don't accept, such as Muggshot and Penelope." And while a soft memory of a squealing mouse rings in my ears, does Endora answer: "Yes." To which Sly shrugs, turns back to the food on his plate and calmly says:  
"Then you're still the gorgeous fox I know and love." And while the fox gasps at the declaration of love, do I feel amazed at how easily Sly now admits this, while in the past he barely even admitted the full extent of his feelings to Murray and me, before the Raccoon asks: "So – who are those three lovely little things?"  
And while I worry for how my leader is about to take this news as he seems just so content to be back in his own timeline, does it seem as if Endora finally has recovered from her shock and confusion as she smirks challengingly at Sly, my friend sending her a raised eyebrow as he takes a bite and when he does, does she say:

"They're yours, Sly Cooper. Yours – and mine." And the shock that my leader has been causing us now hits him back, making him choke on the bite he was taking and while Murray helps him spit out the bit of buttered toast with jam, do Sylvester and Dorea laugh at the sight of their dad's shock, Dorea making it worse as she says:  
"You go, mum. Tell dad how it is." Making Sly gasp in shock and while we now all turn our gazes between the heavily shocked Raccoon on my left and the highly proud looking fox on my right, can I not help but wonder how things took so many sharp turns for shock and wonder when my friend only returned to us 2 hours ago.

Yet Sly seems not willing to let Endora have one over him as he takes a few deep breaths to get over his shock and then smirks and says: "Just like Illinois Cooper." Shocking us all before he says: "According to the Thievius Raccoonus, Illinois Cooper only made love to his wife once, yet he had two daughters and two sons."  
And while Endora seems shocked at hearing this, does Sly smirk and say: "And everyone who has known the tale of Illinois Cooper, believes that he and Desiree Bellamora were meant for each other. That their bond as soul mates made it possible for Desiree to feel his love four times over and be pregnant four times over."  
He then stands up and while his kids now look between each other, Rin-Gin still with his head tilted as he is seated in the high chair next to his mother, do I suddenly realize something, making me halt Sly in his tracks as I ask: "Wait a minute, Sly. What last name did you just say there?" Making him send me a confused angry look.  
The anger worries me as the heat of it proves that Sly was planning something big and he says: "Bellamora." Making all of us look at each other in shock, which makes Sly resemble his youngest as he asks: "Why? Am I missing something?" To which Endora sighs and says: "How about the reason behind my changed looks."

At this Sly seems curious and intrigued as he moves back to his seat, sits down and lies his head on one of his hands as he says: "Tell me. I'm all ears, gorgeous." And while I suddenly notice how there is a hint of self-inflicted confusion shining in his eyes, does Endora seem to find a proper point to start her explanation as she asks:  
"Tell me, Coop – Sly – does the name Carmelita match my new looks?" And while Sly sends her a long, searching look, tilting his head a little to both sides as he does, does he answer carefully: "Yes –and no." Shocking us before he says: "Yes, because Carmelita stays a gorgeous name and no, because – well, I can't put my finger on it."

Endora nods and says: "That's because it isn't. My real name is Endora Bellamore. I was kidnapped three months after I was born and told I was kidnapped two weeks before I first met you. The day you got amnesia was two days before I was told that my fake name was part of a marriage contract, betrothing me to someone else.  
That person's family has a feud with my birth family and the threats that he and my adopted family used to keep my real family under the thumb were what would have allowed for the feuding family to take all the money my family owned through me. It was the whole reason I told you that you were my partner and a Constable that night.  
I – I wanted to change you into someone you're not, so I could use your family's power – and yes, I did see that while inside that vault – to nullify that marriage contract. I – I know it sounds wrong and selfish, but – please don't take this the wrong way, Sly – at – at that point in time I – I felt I'd rather marry a thief than – than him."

By now the whole gang and family are looking at the fox in shock as the whole Constable Cooper part had been one she had never even explained to us when revealing her true heritage to all of Paris and while everyone is amazed by her story, do I suddenly notice something that shocks and confuses me; Sly's empty chair.  
I look around and then see that, while Endora had lowered her head in shame while speaking the last part of her tale, Sly had apparently used her lowered head stance to move over to where she's sitting, a hard and determined look on his face that really worries me and makes his kids look just as worried before he whispers:  
"Endora." Making her look up, her eyes wide when she realizes where he's standing and then I see what she sees. The way that Sly's eyes have turned hard and serious, is because they are brimming with unshed tears and the Raccoon latches himself onto the startled fox, his arms like vice grips around her as he whispers:  
"Forgive me. Forgive me for never realizing it. I always felt you were the most endearing person I have ever met and I never realized why that one word always came up in me when thinking of you. I should have realized it. I should have been there. Been there to help you. Been there to stop those fools and make you – who you really are."

And while most of the girls around me are now in tears, including Dorea and Endora themselves, does Sly dry his and her eyes and does he softly take her hands in his, pulling her out of her chair and over to stand with him, his eyes strong and filled with all the love I have known my buddy to feel for this incredible fox in front of him.  
Endora however seems overwhelmed with seeing this and Sly says: "Endora – Carmelita – I don't care for your name. I don't care for your looks. I don't care for either of it. What I care for is what I have always seen within you. Your strength, your vigor, your need for justice, your incredible heart and your intelligent mind.  
I see all that and whether I see it in an orange-brown furred fox or an albino white, I do not care. In both looks you were gorgeous – you were my gorgeous. And – and I want you to be my gorgeous. Not just here and now, but tomorrow, the day after, the week after and all the years that you and I still have on this crazy world."  
At this Endora hugs him tightly, while Sylvester has gone to sit with his softly crying sister and Eleanor has taken Rin-Gin out of his high-chair, holding him tightly as she gazes at the loving couple with teary eyes, Endora taking a deep, halted breath before she whispers: "I want that too, Sly. I – I really want that too."

And this seems to be what Sly had wanted to hear as, while holding Endora's back with both his hands, does he now move them gently to pluck something out of the trim of his right-hand glove with his left before, to all of our shock, he pulls away, goes down on one knee and looks the startled vixen in the eyes as he says:  
"I love you, Endora Bellamora. And when I was planning that stupid little heist on the Museum to still my inner Cooper Needs and continue being the Constable you apparently so desperately needed, did I swear to myself that, once the heist was over, I would ask this one question. Endora Bellamora, will you marry me?"  
And while the realization that, if I had waited a few days for Sly to pull his heist, I could have had Carmelita and him in on the whole thing without them arguing and angry at each other makes me feel like hitting myself on the head for my stupidity, do we all look at the one person everyone is waiting to hear an answer from.

Endora seems as shocked to hear what Sly had been planning as I am, her purple eyes are wide and the hand that Sly is holding is trembling in shock, before suddenly new tears start to drift down her eyes and while the slowly growing smile on her face is a clear indication, do we all still smile widely when she shouts:  
"YES, SLY! YES! YES! YES! I'LL MARRY YOU! OH, YOU CRAZY RINGTAIL! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I MISSED YOU SO DEARLY! OH-HO-HO-HOW." And with that does the Fox burst out in tears, her new fiancé close behind her and the two clinging to each other for all that they're worth.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Cooper.

* * *

 _ **And there you have it!  
**_ _ **Shocks and surprises all around and now, Sly's an engaged man. And no, this wasn't something I decided on because he now has kids, I would have made this scene even if Sylvester, Dorea and Rin-Gin hadn't been born. Also yes, Rin-Gin is also Harry's Cooper name in Coopers and Wizards, but I like it, so I won't change it.  
**_ _ **Next chapter Sly gets another shock, yet this one is as welcoming as the one where he realizes that he has his home, era and friends back. Because this time, Sly's going to find out that – when you marry someone's daughter, you automatically marry into someone's family. And that is something Sly lost a long time ago.  
**_ _ **Hope you enjoy,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	4. A Few Shocks For Sly

_**Hey everyone,**_

 _ **This story is going great, but my need to write has been pretty low lately, so don't expect for there to be a posts every month, okay? My interest lies more elsewhere currently and while writing has always been a passion of mine – one I hope to exploit in years to come – are the fires of my passion currently just embers.  
**_ _ **Also, this chapter will be kind of the same as last, but then from a different POV. I am doing this so I can build on my character development abilities, which I do need if I were to ever write a good story of my own. Also, if I ever do, it will probably be with the nine OC characters I created for Rituals And Reading.  
**_ _ **Hope you enjoy,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

The shower I took was both refreshing and highly irritating as I found myself standing in a small puddle of muddy water, due to all the sand I kept washing out of my fur and while I have no doubt that I will be taking many more showers in the next few days, do I happily put on the new set of cloths Murray had stalled out for me.  
I had heard Dimitri's shout of my return when under the shower and had happily assumed out of this that the Iguana had become an even closer member of the gang due to searching for me, but while I had been under the shower had my mind been on one thing most of all; a little something that I had put in my old glove.  
The glove had been the only thing I hadn't thrown in the bin when pulling my cloths off and had instead hidden it under my towel out of fear that, whoever would come to give me new cloths, would throw the cloth away, believing it to be old and filthy. Yet while the cloth maybe old, did it still house a special little surprise.  
One I didn't want thrown away and when Murray had come to give me my cloths, had he not noticed how my old glove was hidden under my towel, allowing me to pull it out from under the towel once my shower was over and switch the little item from my old glove to my new one, throwing my old one away after the switch.

I had afterwards taken a close look at myself and while I really want to look presentable to my true love, did I not want to give her the impression that I lived an easy life and so I had kept some of my fur wet and had kept a few clouts of sand stuck to the fur on my face, the sand itself feeling a little sticky, but adding to my looks.  
I had opened the bathroom door and instantly a scent of delicious meals had hit my nose thrills, making me hum in delight and follow the scent downstairs with my eyes closed, my nose constantly sniffing and trying to take in as much of the delicious aroma as I could while it led me over to the kitchen and dining room.  
There a sight that I have been dying to see for the last eight years came to my eyes and I had been ecstatic to see both Bentley with his son and wife as well as Murray with his little girl and a female Bison. Yet while the sight of a young foxcoon, fox and raccoon had confused me, had the woman between them startled me.

Her hair now looks a gorgeous brown, almost ruby colored. Her eyes are the strongest purple color with specks of gold. Her fur is albino white with hints of orange and brown showing through. And yet, while most of her features have changed drastically over the last few years, is there no mistaking my gorgeous Carmelita Fox.  
I had, of course, expected some changes and the words of Bentley, Murray and Eleanor had made me know some things had happened, but for her orange fur, her brown eyes and her orange and black tipped ears to have been replaced was not something I had expected, yet at the same time I had been unable to deny her looks as beautiful.  
The sight of her surrounded by kids had not been a pleasant one, but I had been determined to live out all I had been working on with the fake, sand-made Carmelita and because of this, had I just walked over and pressed my lips against hers, the taste of Carmelita not having changed and having made my heart sing in loving joy.  
Everyone else had been shocked that I had been so bold, which had slightly confused me as I had always been bold when approaching the fox and I had parted my lips from hers with the loving whisper: "Good to see you, gorgeous." Not quite ready to confess just yet, but feeling myself getting ready to do so any second now.

I then took a glance at what had caused that delightful aroma and had seen an entire meal that I hadn't really taken notice of before, even if I had commented on Dimitri's words of there being a party for my return and when I see an empty spot near Bentley, do I easily slid over there and sit down, happily taking some food.  
Everyone else, however, seems to have expected a different reaction from me and are now looking at me in shock while I calmly grab some of the delicious meals set out around me, my stomach rumbling in excitement over finally eating something decent and then Eleanor calls my name, making me hum back as she asks:  
"You're not – shocked?" And while I wonder why they are all expecting me to freak out or something, do I ask: "Bentley called her over, didn't he?" And the question makes some of those around me share shocked glances before Murray says: "But – but she really changed?" Which makes me feel like he's a hypocrite and say:  
"Eight years have passed. Do you think I expected her to be the same? You guys changed too, you know?" And while I know that the hair cut of Murray and the stubble of Bentley aren't all that much compared to Carmelita's changed looks, is Dimitri the next to ask: "So you – you not against her changed looks, Crackerbox?"

And while the sound of that name feels really great, do I decide to just use this confusion of my friends and team members to get my confession out of the way, making me sigh and put down my buttered toast with jam before putting my full focus and emotions into my look as I turn to Carmelita and ask her:  
"You still working for Interpol?" And the change of who's being questioned combined with the strength of my stare seem to have thrown the female fox off her feet as she answers: "Yes." To which I continue and ask: "You still hot on my case?" Memories of our many wonderful times as cop and robber running through my mind.  
The woman seems a little more back to her old self and answers: "Yes, and on wherever it is you've been the last eight years." And while my heart sings at hearing her sweet voice and the dedication that sounds through it, do I keep the love I feel for her out of my face for a little while longer and instead of that, do I ask:  
"You helping Bentley and the others catching criminals that try to hurt us or try to do things that we Coopers just don't accept, like Muggshot and Penelope?" And while this reminds me that I need to put the team together and see if Penelope has been caught yet or not, does Carmelita answer: "Yes." To which I shrug and calmly say:  
"Then you're still the gorgeous fox I know and love." And while the others all gasp, do I feel like reprimanding myself as my declaration came way easier than I ever expected, yet I don't show this self-hatred and instead turn back to my breakfast, while feeling curious and asking: "So – who are those three lovely little things?"

And while my heart and mind are now shouting at me, tearing me apart from the inside at the fact that I asked about the very living proof that my beloved might have found a partner in life while searching for me, does Carmelita seem to have gained her old moxie back as she smirks at me challengingly, making me catch her eye.  
While I do this, do I express my love for her through my gaze and take a bite of my meal, but this seems to be exactly what Carmelita was waiting for as she says: "They're yours, Sly Cooper. Yours – and mine." And this shocks me so deeply, my bite of buttered toast goes straight into the wrong part of my throat, making me choke.  
Believing I must have heard her wrong over the pounding that Murray is causing on my back to make me spit out my meal, do I then hear the three kids laugh and then the only girl in the group makes the words I heard earlier become reality as she speaks with her mother's tongue and says: "You go, mum. Tell dad how it is!"

And the fact that this little girl calls me her father helps me not only spit out the bit of toast stuck in my throat, but also makes me gasp, my breathing labored as I never expected to come back to a full family. Back to my beloved, yes, but never to a family of kids. But then the Thievius Raccoonus flashes before my mind's eye.  
Reading the pages as they flip around before me mentally, do I then read a single name and this shocks me, but also explains how this all could be possible as Carmelita and I only shared her bed once in the entire time I faked having amnesia and while I have no doubt that Carmelita thinks she has one over me, do I happily say:

"Just like Illinois Cooper." Confusing the now shocked vixen and I smirk as I continue and say: "According to the Thievius Raccoonus, Illinois Cooper only made love to his wife once, yet he had two daughters and two sons." This seems to shock Carmelita, but then I realize the potential behind this tale and smirk as I say:  
"And anyone who has known the tale of Illinois Cooper, believes that he and Desiree Bellamora were meant for each other. That their bond as soul mates made it possible for Desiree to feel his love four times over and be pregnant four times over." And while explaining this, do I think: "Just like you are my soul mate, my beautiful."  
And with that, do I stand up, fingering the ring I have hidden in my glove, but when I pass Bentley, does he ruin everything as he asks: "Wait a minute, Sly. What last name did you just say there?" Which makes me think: "Really? You have to ask me such a futile question at this point in my plan? Really, Bentley?"

Yet when I answer: "Bellamora." Do the others all share a shocked look, making me tilt my head like my youngest son is doing and I ask: "Why? Am I missing something?" And while I silently think: "Like the perfect chance to propose?" Does Carmelita intrigue me as she retorts: "How about the reason behind my changed looks?"  
This catches my interest and while her looks still make her look just about stunning, do I sit down and say: "Tell me. I'm all ears, gorgeous." And only then do I realize that, while I do call her by her name in my mind, I constantly called her different when speaking to her and while this confuses me, does Carmelita ask:  
"Tell me, Coop – Sly – does the name Carmelita match my new looks." And while the fact that she calls me Sly makes me feel hopeful about the troubles we had before my disappearance, do I tilt my head both ways in order to see whether or not I can answer her question before I confess to her and myself: "Yes – and no."

Yet this doesn't seem to be the answer the others were expecting and I go on: "Yes, because Carmelita stays a gorgeous name and no, because - well, I can't put my finger on it." Yet Carmelita seems relieved to hear this, something that really worries me about her upcoming explanation and she starts talking as she says:  
"That's because it isn't. My real name is Endora Bellamora. I was kidnapped three months after I was born and told I was kidnapped two weeks before I first met you. The day you got amnesia was two days after I was told that my fake name was part of a marriage contract, betrothing me to someone else."  
This alone shocks and infuriates me, yet the others seem shocked as well and I realize they must have heard some other tale when Carmelita – no wait, Endora – changed her looks from what I remember to these new gorgeous features, but while I realize how I always thought her the most endearing person I met, does she say:

"That person's family has a feud with my birth family and the threats that he and my adopted family used to keep my real family under the thumb were what would have allowed for the feuding family to take all the money my family owned through me. It was the whole reason I told you that you were my partner and a Constable that night.  
I – I wanted to change you into someone you're not, so I could use your family's power – and yes, I did see that while inside the vault – to nullify that marriage contract. I – I know it sounds wrong and selfish, but – please don't take this the wrong way, Sly – at – at that point in time I – I felt I'd rather marry a thief than – than him."  
And while everyone – from my team to their families to even my own son and daughter – looks at her in shock, do I feel guilt eating me alive as the woman has her face down, proving me how she has been walking around with guilt in her heart over thinking she tricked me into something I don't want for all these years.

I stand up and move out of my chair, my face firm if only to hide all the guilt and pain I feel deep within me for the terror that my gorgeous partner in heart and crime must have gone through for so long and while I notice how my kids now look worried at me, do I feel my shields slowly breaking as I whisper her name for the first time:  
"Endora." The fox looks up, her purple eyes dark with shame, but wide with shock when she sees my tears and this makes the damn break, making me latch onto her gorgeous frame and making me cry as all the guilt flows out of me, making me want to confess my love for her and confess how guilty I feel as I ramble and say:  
"Forgive me. Forgive me for never realizing it. I always felt you were the most endearing person I have ever met and I never realized why that one word always came up in me when thinking of you. I should have realized it. I should have been there. Been there to help you. Been there to stop those fools and make you – who you really are."

Then, deciding that I have to do this now, that I have to make sure without a shadow of a doubt that Endora thinks about me the way I think about her and the way Illinois thought about his Desiree, do I pull her out of her chair and wrap my arms around her frame, part of me wondering how it felt when she was pregnant.  
I then decide to show her my love for her through my eyes as I say: "Endora – Carmelita – I don't care for your name. I don't care for your looks. I don't care for either of it. What I care for is what I have always seen within you. Your strength, your vigor, your need for justice, your incredible heart and your intelligent mind.  
I see all that and whether I see it in an orange-brown-furred fox or an albino white, I do not care. In both looks you were gorgeous – you were my gorgeous. And – and I want you to be my gorgeous. Not just here and now, but tomorrow, the day after, the week after and all the years that you and I still have on this crazy world."  
And while I have no doubt that my words have brought many of the females in the room to tears – the female bison, the tortoise and probably even my own little girl – do I only have eyes for the teary happiness I see shining in Endora's eyes, a happiness that makes me proud to have said these things after all these years of waiting.

The woman then hugs me tightly and takes a deep, halted breath before she whispers: "I want that too, Sly. I – I really want that too." And while her story had, at first, made me worry that the woman didn't love me, do I now hear the actual love that comes from her heart and sounds through her voice, making me confident to do this.  
I move my arms slowly as I strengthen my hold on her, the strengthening a way to not just distract her, but also silently convey to her how happy I am to hear her say this as I pull the gorgeous ring from the yellow trim of my glove and then, before the shocked eyes of my team and friends, do I go down on my knee and say:  
"I love you, Endora Bellamora. And when I was planning that stupid little heist on the Museum to still my inner Cooper Needs and continue being the Constable you apparently so desperately needed, did I swear to myself that, once the heist was over, I would ask you this one question. Endora Bellamora, will you marry me?"

And while I have no doubt that I have shocked everyone around me – especially the stunning vixen in front of me – do I pray with all my heart that proposing so soon after returning from an eight year long trip won't be the wrong thing to do, but then, as I wonder about this, do I take a glance into the eyes of my one true love.  
Her eyes are wide as saucers and the purple in it is shining brightly with the shock and the deeply underlying love, yet while the tears I suddenly see starting to leak down her eyes worries me, does the trembling smile and the way her hand starts to shake in mine make me a little more sure of myself and then she shouts:  
"YES, SLY! YES! YES! YES! I'LL MARRY YOU! OH, YOU CRAZY RINGTAIL! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I MISSED YOU SO DEARLY! OH-HO-HO-HOW!" And while I know take a crying fox in my arms, do I feel tears leaking down my own eyes as it finally feels as I am home at last.  
Home with my friends, who have been my brothers since my parents were murdered. Home with those that have been and become part of my team ever since I started making name for myself. Home with the children that I birthed, but didn't raise. And home with the woman that has had my heart since the very day we met.

Home with my new soon to be Mrs. Cooper.

* * *

 _ **Holy crap!  
**_ _ **Okay, that was slightly hard and it was mostly because I had to constantly check what it was I had written in the last chapter and yes, I know I did this as well in Family Traditions, but I love this chapter and felt that Bentley's POV just didn't do it enough honor as Sly is much more of a thinker and an emotional being.  
**_ _ **I really love this chapter and will work on quite some more, but I do want to send out one warning: this story contains NO EVIL VILLAINS OR ENEMIES! There won't be this ultimate Crime Lord like I had in A Letter To Change It all, there won't be a big bad gang like in the Sly Cooper Series, those won't happen here.  
**_ _ **It'll just be about Sly getting married, getting his family together, learning about his kids, helping Endora raise them and discovering things about them as they grow up. There will be some mentions of things that are – non-Canon – written within the Raccoonus and there will be issues, but they won't be worldwide or so.  
**_ _ **Hope you get all of that,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	5. Heathrow Prison

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **This story is going really great and I am very happy with the amount of views and visitors it had in the last month as it is fourth in place of all Sly Cooper Stories that I have on my account and 11**_ _ **th**_ _ **in place of all my stories, which is a total of 26. Yet, if you take the completed ones out, True family rises up to the ninth place.  
**_ _ **Of that, I am proud,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

Endora needed a good half an hour to let out all the pain, guilt, love and happiness out of her, yet I had not cared one bit, feeling too happy myself to care and instead of doing anything to stop her, had I just motioned Murray to put my chair behind me and had I helped her onto my lap, both of us crying in each other's arms for a while.  
Afterwards, the fox had actually initiated our first kiss as an engaged couple and to feel her sweet, albino pink lips on my own had been like the sweetest reward to all the years of my survival in the searing heat of the Egyptian I could have ever gotten, the way her lips moved against mine in love making my heart soar.

Everyone in the gang had applauded at seeing this happen, yet the feeling of my new fiancé in my arms had practically made me deaf and blind to anything and everything around me and I had held Endora with all the desperate need that I have felt over being with her for all the long years I have been on my own.  
This had caused for a sweet, loving smile to show on my fiancé's teary face, proving that she too had missed me dearly and that she wants me as much as I want her and after about half an hour of us holding each other and softly crying to let out all the emotions we have felt for the last eight years, did she dry her eyes.  
I had let her go and had stood up myself, moving over to my newly discovered kids as part of me still can't quite believe that I am a father now and while I had looked mostly at my eldest son, had I smiled at them all and ask: "So, what are my sweet little ones named, gorgeous?" And Endora had come to stand behind me as she says:  
"I was hoping you would ask, Ringtail. I felt kind of lonely without you here while pregnant and I wanted to – you know – prove to everyone that these kids were yours as well as mine, so – I named our eldest Sylvester, after you, our little girl Dorea, after my real name and finally our youngest Rin-Gin. Care to guess?"

Yet the names had made a new wave of exuberant happiness soar through my heart and instead of answering, do I turn around, grab Endora around her waist and while she shouts in shock at being lifted into the air, do I twirl us on my axis and shout: "YOU! ARE! THE! MOST! INCREDIBLE! VIXEN! EVER!"  
And while our kids laugh at hearing me shout this, do I put Endora back down, pull her close and sear her lips with my own and a searing kiss to express to her how happy I am to have her name our kids not just after her and myself, but name one of them after the nickname she gave me after our first date in the Chopper.  
This memory makes an even happier smile grow on my face and while I quickly think of replacement drinks for the kids, do I part from Endora and say: "This calls for Champagne." And while my team looks at me shocked, does Endora get the hint as she bursts out laughing against my chest, new tears of joy streaming down her face.

 _ **A few hours later**_

The party to celebrate my return, my engagement to Endora and the happiness we all felt at having the team and my family reunited had been amazing, yet the entire time a little something had been bugging and annoying me from the back of my mind and I had not answered this little nagging voice until hours later.  
Now Endora has taken the kids to school, promising me that Rin-Gin will be spending the day with his grandparents as she wants to reunite with me some more later, have Murray, his wife and Bentley all gone to their actual part-time jobs and have I decided to pay a quick and sneaky visit to two people that owe me an explanation.

The reason this is sneaky is because someone like me would rather be caught dead then end up here, yet just like all those years ago when I first got in contact with Jim McSweeney is sneaking into the Heathrow Prison a piece of cake, the hardest being catching yet another guard off guard and stealing his uniform.  
Yet, unlike last time I came here, are there actually more guards my size and so getting one of them knocked out and taking his place just before the guards go on roll call is easier than I expected and to increase my sense of luck is the guard that I knocked out the one supposed to do roll call in one of the sections I am quite familiar with.  
Moving over to this section of the prison, where there are actually several people set that I – with help of my new fiancé – put behind bars, do I imitate the voice of the guard I knocked out until I walk past the one cell I wanted to find, not because it has my actual target, but because it houses someone I feel sure will help me.

A huge pink walrus with one of his teeth broken off halfway through, who has small black pupils and who is wearing only a pair of jeans, yet who also has a lot of tattoos all over his upper body and arms is lying on his bed with his arms behind his head when I softly say: "Long time no see, McSweeney." Making him turn to me.  
The walrus raises one of his eyebrow and I smirk as I use my thumb to move up the hood of my police uniform jacket, showing off my blue mask and my dark brown eyes and it seems as if the combination of my eye color and my smirk makes the walrus recognize me as his eyes widen before a large smile appears on his face.  
He wants to jump off his bed with a shout, but I instantly use the hand lifting my hood to motion him to remain quiet and then go on and say: "Good to see you again too, old guy. Unfortunately I'm not here for you or the Cooper Vault. I'm here because I need some intell and I believed you could help me get what I want."

The walrus nods and then I ask: "Where can I find the incarcerated Fox family?" The Walrus smirks, obviously onto why thanks to the dark and dangerous way that I hissed the name and he asks: "Out for revenge, Raccoon?" I nod only once and say: "For my new fiancé, yes." Shocking the creature before he smirks and says:  
"Go up two floors and then follow the hallway above this one to the right twice and to the left once. You'll find yourself in a hallway with closed off door cells and it will be the fourth and the ninth on the right." I nod and send another smile at the old friend of my father before putting my disguise back and moving on.

A few minutes and a couple of security questions later am I standing in the hallway McSweeney described to me and while part of me wonders why the Fox Family members weren't placed closer together, do I move to check the plague placed against the wall next to the fourth cell on the right of the hallway and read:  
"Philipo Fox, huh? Not the person I am looking for, but it does sound foreign, so that does explain why no one questioned Endora being a Fox." I then sneak a quick peek through the small window in the cell door and the lame, weak way that the male fox in the cell sits on his bed makes me smirk in vengeful glee.  
I then move further up to the ninth cell on the right of the hallway and to my happiness does the plague indeed state a female name followed by the fox name and after making sure that there is no one watching either side of the hallway, do I pull out the pair of keys I snuck off of one of the guards I passed earlier.

I move the keys into the lock and turn it, unlocking the cell and moving inside with lightning speed, trying not to feel uncomfortable or fearful myself when I lock the door behind me again and instead of that do I focus on the fox in front of me, who has an orange colored fur similar to Endora's old fur color and long black hair.  
The hair is messed up and is full of twists and knots and while the hair reaches all the way to below her hips, do I almost feel repulsed when I see that some of the tips of her hair are actually colored with poo leftovers, the smell of it reaching my nose long before the woman looks up, her wild eyebrow raising up as she sees me.

"Why would a guard suddenly want to visit someone in solitary confinement?" She asks, her voice hoarse and proving it hasn't been used in a couple of weeks and after sneaking one last quick peek through her cell door window to make sure that there is no one in the hallway, do I throw off the uniform and say:  
"Because I might not be an officer, but I sure am someone who has a right to a whole lot of answers." The fox looks shocked when she recognizes me and then whispers: "Sly Cooper." Yet it seems as if her throat can't stand the whispering as she starts coughing, something I care nothing about as I just lean against her cell door.  
Yet the woman seems to have been here for so long that part of her sanity seems to have left her as she shocks me by sagging down from her bed and crawling over to the toilet of her cell, one of her hand actually scooping up some toilet water and then moving up to her coughing mouth, the fox actually drinking the water.

Feeling my body tense up in shock, do I think: "Was this some kind of act to catch me off guard or has she really been here for too long for her own good?" But just when this thought passes my mind, do I again remember how Endora looked and felt when she confessed the truth about her heritage and this makes me turn serious again.  
The fox, in the mean time, heaves and takes some deep breath to let her body accept the toilet water and catch her breath before she asks: "Why would you want answers when you can clearly see how badly we have already been punished?" But thanks to her question, do I again see Endora crying in my mind and say:

"Because even after all these years your kidnapped victim is carrying guilt over what she wanted to do to me just to get back at you and your bastard of a husband.""Then why are you here with me and not with him, huh? Or with that little skank for that matter?" The fox hisses at me, yet before she can start coughing, do I get angry.  
I sprint to the other side of the room, pull my cane out of the holster on my back and push the woman up against the back wall with my lower arm as I hiss: "I came from seeing her a few minutes ago, you lowlife skunk, and the way she cried in my arms out of guilt and pain is exactly the reason I am here visiting trash like you."  
The fox glares at me and I say: "Besides, the reason I am here with you and not your lousy husband is because I knew enough about _Carmelita_ and her parents to know that she got her brains from her mother. I always knew your husband wasn't known for his smarts, so hearing what Carmelita told me, it wasn't hard to figure out."

The Fox tries to spit at me as I hold her, but I just cover my face with my glove and then smirk as I say: "Don't worry, I'll be leaving you to your solitude shortly. I just didn't get a name from Endora about the family her own family is feuding with and so I came to ask you. Who is this family? And where can I find them?"  
"Go to hell." The fox spats and I close my eyes to slits as I say: "Sorry, been there, done that. I spent the last eight years without your target and it was hell. Yet I survived and now, your target – is my fiancé." And while the woman wails at hearing this, do I just release her from my grip, making her fall on all fours.  
Tears leak out of her dirty brown eyes as she leans on her knees and legs and while I swish my cane in my hand for a few turns, do I then slam its tip onto the concrete floor and casually ask: "So, what was that name again?" Making her send a teary glare my way, but the sight of Endora crying makes me immune to her anger.

"Gasgrew. It's the Gasgrew family. They've been in feud with the Bellamora's for several decades, yet my grandfather had shares in some of their companies and they wanted to thank me and my husband for my grandfather saving their company by giving us back the money we spend on them all those years ago."  
This makes me shake my head at her as her explanation does nothing to improve my opinion of her and I say: "So because you wanted some money back, you were willing to steal a kid and the money of a family you never even met?" The woman glares at me and says: "As if someone like you would ever understand."  
To this I move back to the cell door, unlock it, put my uniform back on and slip back out of her cell before I glance through her window and say: "You're right, I don't understand – because I don't care enough to understand. Have a happy locked up life." And while the woman lets out another scream, do I leave her cell.

A quick return to McSweeney's cell then helps me get the info I need, the Walrus still smirking as he sees me and tells me where to find this man's cell and about ten minutes after leaving the woman's cell, do I arrive in the hallway that has cells back to back with the cells on the left of the hallway I was in earlier.  
Wondering yet again why these three criminals are locked up in cells so far away from each other, do I move over to the last cell on the right and when I look in, do I instantly understand how this family can be in feud with Endora's as there is actually a brown-furred coyote – the natural enemy of the fox – seated inside the cell.  
The coyote has a brown-furred coat, yet various spots on his body has bald spots, proving to me that he actually ripped his own fur out, where the fur on his head is darker colored and there is even a line going down between his eyes and down his muzzle that I can actually smell is poop, which makes me glad for the uniform.

Using yet another key to open this door, have I moved in and locked it even before the coyote looks up, yet the animal instantly looks down again and says: "Unless you're her, I'm not interested." And while I wonder who else visited his cell, do I still glare at him and reveal myself, throwing off my cloak as I say:  
"I may not be who you want to see, but I do expect some answers." The coyote looks shocked as he sees me and I pull a handkerchief out of the front pocket of my shirt, wrapping it around my face as the smell of the poop is even stronger now that I am inside the cell before the coyote growls and asks: "What are _you_ doing here?"  
And while I wonder if he can see from under my handkerchief, do I smirk and say: "I came to get some answers and bring you some very positive news. Well, positive for me, that is to say.""What?" The coyote growls, his fur standing on edge, even if his legs tremble proving me he has barely any muscle power left.

Still, knowing that adrenaline caused by anger can make even the sweetest of creatures turn violent, do I reach for my cane with one hand as I say: "Endora is getting married – to me." And indeed do I get proven right as the animal roars and lungs at me, his claws extended and crashing against the wood of my cane.  
Still, the power of his leap pushes me back against the cell door and while I do my best to push him back and hope that no one outside has heard us, does the wild animal snarl and shout: "WHY! WHY WOULD SHE MARRY YOU! WHY YOU AND NOT ME?" And while he continues snarling in rage, do I answer:

"Because I was always a gentlemen to her. Because I was willing to give up everything I had and everything I was to be with her. Because I am the father of her three kids. BECAUSE I LOVE HER, YOU LOWLIFE PUNK!" And with that last shout, do I use my full force to push the coyote off of me and back into his cell.  
I then swiftly move back to the other side of his cell door and while the animal seems dazed as he had actually hit the back of his head against the concrete floor, does he then glare at me as I say: "I care for Endora for who she is, not what she owns or what – monetarily or property-wise – she can give me, unlike the likes of you."  
And while the animal again rushes for his celldoor, do I reapply my costume, pull off the mask covering my mouth and do I leave the hallway, some of the other inmates moving over to their cell doors to see what could be going on, but me ignoring them all as I leave and sneak out of Heathrow Prison, feeling at peace.

* * *

 _ **Okay, I'll admit.  
**_ _ **The start of that chapter was pretty hard as I wanted to cover a bit of what happened after the proposal, but I didn't want this story to hang onto that part for too long. Yet once I got to the McSweeney part and then the part with the two hallways, things went a lot easier and the ending makes me very proud.  
**_ _ **Next chapter will be Endora again and she'll be visiting someone else who will play an important role in the future of this story, but then because of his role in Endora's life. It won't be her actual birth parents, those will come later, but she and this other person will be getting a pleasant surprise before next chapter ends.  
**_ _ **Take a guess,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	6. Bosses And Foes

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **I will be honest with you lot, this is my absolute favorite of all my Sly Cooper Stories. Yes, Coopers and Wizards is my favorite when it comes to my crossovers and I am very proud to have written The Cooper Clan and finished it, but this story is just my favorite of all my Sly Cooper stories – simply because of its simplicity.  
**_ _ **You like it too, right?**_

 _ **Venquine1990  
PS. IMPORTANT UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM!**_

* * *

 _ **Endora's POV**_

Sly's return is one thing my mind has a hard time grasping, but the ring that is now around my finger and that has been in the Ringtail's possession ever since he planned his heist on Le Paradox's museum is the only bit of evidence that proves that I am not dreaming or half asleep on the couch watching romantic comedies again.  
This kind of movies had quickly become my favorite a year after Sly disappeared and while Sylvester doesn't really like all of them, does it still happen every few weeks that he, little Dorea and I would cuddle under warm fleece blankets together and would love at the humor while Dorea and I would coo at the romantic parts.  
These nights together have really helped me the last few years and of course the fact that, no matter how many years have passed, the Cooper Gang just didn't give up searching for their leader helped me keep up the hope that one day the father of my kids would return to me. And now that day has come and so much more has happened.

Thinking this, do I look up at the large, square shaped building grey and brown bricked building where I have worked for the last nineteen years and while I wonder if there is any chance I will be entering this building with my new fiancé as my partner once again, do I – for the umpteenth time –squash a little voice in the back of my mind.  
This voice has been growing stronger and stronger inside me during the weeks I spend together with the Cooper Gang in the Old West, the few days I spend alongside them in the Ice Age and the weeks I spend with them in Medieval England and Ancient Arabia, yet it almost died out when Sly vanished with Le Paradox's blimp.

The memory of that event then reminds me that I need to make sure that I am the 1st to bring the _happy_ news to the annoying Skunk that has made name for himself in the prison he resides in as he frequently brags how he was able to conquer the Cooper Gang by taking out their leader, a statement that infuriates me to this day.  
Feeling elated that I can finally take that blasted skunk and his oversized ego down a notch with the picture that Bentley send to my Binocucom, do I smile widely as I enter the Headquarters of Interpol, deciding that I will take care of this once I have finished the reason for me to come here as I actually just want to return to Sly.

Everyone I pass instantly notices how happy and elated I look and one of the seals that I work with asks: "Caught a big one, Endora?" And while glad for the police gloves that I had in my glove compartment and that I decided to put on before entering, do I smile mysteriously at the man and say: "My biggest ever, John."  
Making the seal look amazed and intrigued, but I don't spill anymore as I feel it prudent to bring this news to the chief first and he says: "You better head up then. You know the chief, he's always dying to hear your big reports." And while I nod at the seal who has been a good friend of mine for years, do I then move further into the building.

In the elevator do I wait patiently for the shaft to take me to one of the upper floors, yet it seems as if my happiness has been told to everyone who wants to hear as, on the third floor, a young poodle with brown and white fur enters and says: "Endora, you're the talk of the day, again. What did you do this time, girl?"  
And while I laugh at the gossip queen of Interpol, do I say: "Sorry Janine, but with all he's done for me, do I owe it to Barkley to spill this news to him first. Care to follow me so you can be first to spill the beans to everyone else?" The poodle yips happily and then starts twirling on the pads of her sandals as we wait for our floor.

Reaching it, Janine almost drags me out of the metallic box as her need to spread rumors – that always have a sense of truth to them – through Interpol seems bigger than my need to share this amazing news with my chief and the one man who has helped me work alongside the Cooper Gang for the last few years and we head for his office.  
Reaching it, I pull sharply on Janine's hand, the poodle stopping in confused shock and I say: "It's good news, Janine, so it won't do to worry Barkley when he sees us looking bedraggled just because we just tore through half this entire floor like we did, okay?" The poodle nods and after we freshened up, do I knock on the door.

Barkley, of course, knows of how I knock on doors and says: "Come on in, Dora." Making me smile as Dora has been his way to get used to my change of looks ever since he witnessed my confession to all of Paris and when Barkley sees that I have Janine with me, does he instantly turn serious and asks: "What happened?"  
Making Janine giggle like she always does and I say: "Chief, I have the biggest, most amazing news you could ever receive. And the best you could ever receive since I told you about that forced marriage the Foxes tried to put me through." Instantly Janine's giggles stop and both of them look at me with shock and intrigue.  
Yet, because of what I said and how I said it, has it become impossible for me to keep my cool and with a squeal of pure happiness and a swift motion to pull of my glove, do I practically shout: "I'M GETTING MARRIED!" Only to receive total silence as both of them look at me with eyes that look ready to fall out of their sockets.

" **WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"** The two then shout in return and I nod frantically before Barkley asks: "What about Cooper?" Making me tilt my head upwards and retort: "Duhhh, Chief, who do you think proposed?" And while he gets shocked again, does a huge grin then grow to adorn his face as he asks:  
"Seriously?" I nod and he asks: "He's back?" Another nod and Janine asks: "And he proposed?" To which I happily show her my beautiful platinum colored ring, one silver crystal with one purple amethyst and one brown onyx wrapped in a metallic frame shaped like a heart, making Janine's eyes widen and Barkley ask:  
"How did Cooper know of your eyes actually being purple?" But this time we all get shocked as another voice, this one warm and very familiar, sounds from behind the chief and says: "I didn't." We all turn to where it comes from and to my happy shock, do I see Sly standing on Barkley's fire escape with his cane in hand.

Janine squeals in shock at seeing him, yet I just smile widely at seeing the raccoon of my dreams and heart and while Barkley splutters something about his window being locked – making me want to roll my eyes at him – does Sly use his cane to swing into the room and say: "I just always felt that purple looked most beautiful on her, is all."  
And while Janine squeals again with a sound that makes it sound as if the squeal should have been a coo, does Barkley just raise his eyebrow at the Master Thief, who still seems to feel right at home here at Interpol as he easily crosses the room and, to my utter joy, wraps his arms around me as he kisses me with passionate love.  
Having missed these intense moments where the Ringtail would prove to me how much he adores me, do I feel happy beyond words that I chose him to replace that filth of a coyote all those years ago and I wrap my arms around his arms, not at all bothered that I am kissing a thief while on duty or actually at headquarters itself.

"I know we've only been apart an hour or so, gorgeous, but all those years apart are hard to compensate. Not to mention make it difficult to stay away from you. Very difficult." The raccoon then whispers against my lips as we part for breath and the utter devotion I can hear in his voice makes my heart skip a beat in glee.  
"Here to get your job back or are you here to negotiate compromises, Cooper?" Barkley then asks, his voice sounding like a needle that pops the bubble of our happy united bliss apart, yet Sly seems to have been able to keep his smooth arrogance over the years in the dessert as he turns to the dog and calmly says:  
"Neither, chief. I just missed my fiancé, is all." Barkley rolls his eyes at this and then I remember what else I had planned to do while here, making a devious smirk grow on my lips that makes all those around me send a raised eyebrow and while I softly play with the fur on the back of Sly's neck, do I almost purr and say:

"You know, Sly. There is one _person_ who has been very happy with your disappearance the last few years." And it seems as if the way I said person already makes Sly know of who I speak as he turns serious and asks: "Do I even need to guess?" I shake my head at him, feeling warm and loved while still in his arms and say:  
"Probably not. Want to go and pop his happy bubble?" Yet it seems as if something happened between Le Paradox and Sly before he disappeared as Sly's arms tense in anger around me and he shocks us all as his voice sounds almost feral while he says: "With pleasure." And the two of us leave the office, along with two shocked canines.

The journey down to the hallway that leads to the house of cells that Le Paradox resides in doesn't really take long, yet Sly escaped my grasp and the office itself once we passed the first open door on the floor of Barkley's office and managed to return to my side once I entered this hallway without a single person noticing.  
How he did this, I just don't understand, but the happy gleam and the excited way that his fur now look ruffled makes me smile at my new fiancé as he obviously had to use some of his old tricks and the raccoon proves me right as he puffs out a happy breath and says: "You sure can't use the Ninja Spiral Jump in the desert, no sir."  
Making me laugh softly and ask: "Ninja Spiral Jump?" And without even a hint of hesitation, does Sly answer: "A technique created by my ancestor, Riochi Cooper. He became famous for his sushi, did he use his actual restaurant and fame as a cover story for his thieving career. He always was my favorite ancestor, really."

And just by the way that his voice sounds as he speaks of the ancestor I never got to meet – even though I did time travel alongside the Cooper Gang – makes me feel as if I actually met this amazing character and makes it also very clear to me that Sly doesn't just really like this ancestor of his – he really respects him too.  
I smile at my fiancé and then decide to just have some fun while I can as the elation over his return and my engagement to him has yet to leave my system as I tilt my head playfully and ask: "Tell me, Ringtail, is there any ancestor you do not know by heart?" But the Ringtail shakes his head at this and answers smoothly:  
"Not anymore, love. The Thievius Raccoonus helped me make sure I know all about my ancestors. I read that book so much, the magic that now keeps it together is embedded into my mind and that allows me to read its pages even if I'm at the other side of the world. That's how I knew of Illinois Cooper when you shocked me."

Amazed that the book that Sylvester has been wanting to inherit for the longest time has such incredible abilities, do I mutter: "No wonder the little guy's so excited for his eight birthday." Yet this seems to be something that excites Sly greatly as well as he stops and exclaims: "Really? Sylvester's turning eight? When?"  
Shocked at the excited tone of my fiancé and how important this seems to be for him, do I stutter: "In – In three . Why?" And while the hallway we're in is made of metal and quite small in size, am I amazed at how Sly actually jumps up and makes a backflip in midair, shouting happily as he does before he says:  
"So I'm not too late. I was so worried. That little guy looked eight already. Oh, this is so awesome." Yet his elation doesn't answer my question and I ask: "Sly, why is it so important to you to not miss Sylvester's eight birthday? Other than for the obvious reasons, of course?" I then add to it and Sly smiles as he says:

"Because I was supposed to go through a special ritual with my father when I turned eight and my father went through that same ritual with my grandfather when my old man did and every Cooper before him has done the same. I missed out on my own chance for this, so I – I'm just super excited I get to do with my own son.  
You understand, right?" And while his voice had been slightly worried, proving me he fears that I don't want my son to become a Master Thief, do I feel my heart reach out to the Ringtail in front of me and I happily wrap my arms back around his sandy neck as I kiss his lips and whisper: "Yes, Sly. I understand, I really do."  
And while Sly shares a happy smile with me, do we then continue our walk through the hallway. Yet my interest is definitely peaked regarding this ritual and I ask: "So what exactly will you and Sylvester be doing on his birthday?" And while it seems to bring back Sly's elation and excitement, do I just smile as he says:

"It's actually a really simple little ritual, really. The son or daughter, when turning eight, needs to either perform three Cooper Abilities or Techniques that it studied beforehand to a perfect standard or the father has to make sure that the child is tasked and taught these three abilities. And all three have to come from the Thievius Raccoonus."  
I nod and while pride and happiness are clear in Sly's voice, does he go on and say: "If, by the end of the day, the child has not performed the appointed tasks up to the right standard, he or she is to train them and is not allowed to retake this test or come near the Raccoonus until he has perfected all three techniques or abilities."  
"That sounds a little harsh." I can't help, but mutter, but Sly shakes his head and says: "It used to be different. It used to be that the father would take his kid out on a small heist and that the kid had to survive this through the learned techniques. That actually stopped after Slaigh MacCooper's grandson got bitten by a deadly scorpion."

I cringe at hearing this and say: "Yeah, performing the tasks on the birthday in a known and safe environment is definitely better." Sly nods and then we finally reach the end of the hallway, where an officer is shocked to see me and when I look to my side, am I just as shocked to see that Sly is actually no longer there.  
"Any reason you're here, inspector?" The arctic wolf asks and I nod as I say: "I have an important announcement that I wish to share with one of my best captured targets. I have Barkley's permission." The wolf nods and lets me through, yet when he returns to inspecting the hallway we came from, is Sly suddenly back at my side.  
"How on earth did you do that?" I ask in slight bewilderment, while trying to keep my voice low and to my annoyance, does the ringtail answer: "Airvent, how else?" And when I tilt my head back to groan, do I indeed notice that a barred door to the air vent above us is indeed open, making me glare at the grinning ringtail.

"Small and slim spaces. They really are a thief's best friend." He then says and just because he sounds so happy to be able to use such common things as an air vent once again, do I feel my anger at him seeping away, something I know is wrong as it proves that Sly can sneak into Interpol at a moment's notice whenever he wants.  
Yet when I think back on that notion again, does a wave of excitement go through me as I envision how Sly and I can meet in secret wherever and whenever we want, even if the Ringtail decides not to join Interpol like he did before all this happened, yet my daydreams are short-lived as suddenly commotion sounds loud and hard.

One of the inmates in the first cell we pass apparently seems aware of who is my traveling partner and the chicken who had almost married me because Sly used me to spring a trap on him cuckoos loudly in anger before he shouts: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? I HEARD FROM LE PARADOX THAT YOU ARE GONE! **GONE!** "  
Yet it seems as if Sly doesn't like the rooster anymore than the rooster likes him as he turns grim and says: "Then you should also know that I always return to what is mine. And you can also consider yourself lucky that Endora's as fast and skilled as she is or it wouldn't be that prison cell you'd be staying in right now."  
"THAT WAS YOUR IDEA, YOU LOWLIFE SCUM!" The rooster shouts and while I sincerely hope that his screams won't alert any other guards in this building, does Sly turn furious at this and snap: "No, it was not. It was Bentley's and the only reason I even went along with it was because there were no other women present at the time."

Then, before I can even so much as blink, has Sly disappeared up the air vent yet again, only to appear in General Tsao's cell and before the rooster can even squawk in shock at this, does Sly have him pinned against the cell door, his eyes feral and his cane and arm pressing against the rooster's neck as he snarls:  
"And now I want a vow from you, from the Tsao line to the Cooper line, that you will never more consider committing such a heinous crime as abducting someone to be your bride against their will again. **NOW!"** And while I am shocked at what I just heard and how furious and feral Sly sounds, does the rooster squawk:

"I – I, General Maximillion Tsao, hereby swear on my honor as the Last of the Tsao Line to Sly Cooper, the Lord of the Cooper Line, that I will nevermore consider committing the crime of kidnap with the intention of making my victim my bride against her will. On my honor and my family, so I swear, so mote it be."  
And while the look in Sly's eyes and the warning that comes with it actually makes a shiver of fear run down my spine, does he then step back and slam the bottom tip of his cane against the concrete floor of Tsao's cell as he says: "I, Sly Cooper of the Cooper Line, accept this vow of Honor from Maximillion Tsao of the Tsao Line."  
And before I can even shake my head to get a grasp at what just happened, has Sly disappeared up the air vent yet again and returned to my side, the air vent that he disappeared through slamming close as he vanishes into it and another sound of metal hitting metal resounding through the vent before he escapes it through his old doorway.

The sound of metal hitting metal makes me look at him as he takes my waist in his hand and moves away from the cell he just occupied and he says: "Made sure he couldn't think of escaping like that. Had a bit of trouble getting the indoor lock off, but I relocked it and then broke the lock, making sure the vent can't reopen."  
this shocks me and makes me ask: "You had trouble getting that lock open? You were in that cell before I could even blink three times." Yet Sly seems not to like hearing this and he asks: "Three times? Damn, I lost some of my agility in that blasted desert. I need to catch up and do some training before Sylvester's birthday."

And while I can barely believe that Sly thinks himself to have moved too slow when dealing with Tsao, do I then realize why Sly had been so furious with the rooster earlier and my heart feels warm with love when I smile at him and ask: "Were you really against using me to trick and capture Tsao all those years ago?"  
"I even told Bentley I would rather use Neyla than you. And yes, I know Neyla would have been even harder to trick, but with her, I would have made sure the wedding was still made official, whether she caught him halfway through or not." This shocks me as Neyla is practically one of the biggest enemies of Sly's career.  
"Exactly." The Raccoon then says, apparently reading my mind through the look of startled shock on my face and I shake my head and while some of the other inmates here also recognize Sly, do none of them make the same ruckus as Tsao did earlier and then finally, after passing a corner and a staircase, do we reach our goal.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys!  
**_ _ **So, who hates me? I know, I hate cliffies too, but this just seemed so perfect and I already put in a bit of confrontation between Sly and one of his former foes, so I decided to leave the big fight for next chapter. Also, this whole journey took so long, I felt confident the whole fight itself would make the chapter look too long.  
**_ _ **Now, next chapter will be Cyrille Le Paradox and I'm pretty sure you're all highly curious how the Skunk will feel when he realizes that his little scheme didn't last as long as he thought, not to mention that his reputation of defeating Sly Cooper has officially been flushed down the drain. I know I am.**_

 _ **Anyway, I do have a few plans for the upcoming months and those the following. A whole lot of bulk-writing – I know you won't get anything out of that, but I want to make sure I'm ahead in case I lose track of the days in a month – like what almost happened this month as I didn't realize how close I got to the end until a week ago.  
**_ _ **Preventing Trouble – Reading Through Time:**_ _ **This story has been revamped and edited. The JK Content has been replaced in the same manner as my other CR stories and the added texts that are adult based have been censored to fit the rules and guidelines of the site. This story will be bulk-posted come end next month.  
**_ _ **A lot of work on my forum. YES! I have a forum and it has both my own challenges – which you can read in Venquine's Mind – and I plan to put DZ2's challenges there as well. I also plan to put challenges there that I don't feel I can write a starting chapter for or that are of my interest and I hope you will take those if possible.  
**_ _ **Well, that's it for the update,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	7. Back On The Team

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **HAPPY NEW YEAR! I will admit that I again took until the very last minute before I worked on this chapter, but I still love the simplicity of this story and I really hope that sometime next year we can bring this little Sly Cooper success to an end and complete another great story. Until then I hope you enjoy the chapters.  
**_ _ **See yah,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

The being that was responsible for me spending the last eight years away from the fox of my dreams is actually leaning against the side of his cell, his face down and his muzzle hidden behind a simple catalogue about the latest prison fashion, yet my clear eyes can easily see how one of his hands is moving while holding the book.  
This makes me know that the catalogue is only used as a decoy to make the guards think they have nothing to worry about concerning this disgusting skunk and while part of me feels excited over his response to my return, do I keep all the contempt in my heart out of my voice as I say: "You know, you're not fooling anyone, really."  
Endora looks at me, shocked at how I sound as my voice makes it sound as I am discussing yesterday's weather or the outfit worn by the last guard that passed by here, yet I don't focus on this as I say: "We can all see your moving hand, Le Paradox. So be a good little skunk and hand over those papers you're hiding."

This makes Endora look back at the cell with the glass door in shock, proving me that her eyesight isn't as sharp as my own, yet I never expected hers to be, yet the way that the skunk's hands tighten on his catalogue is what elates me and then he jumps up and shouts: "Just shut up, Cooper, you filthy –." Only for his eyes to widen.  
The fact that it took him this long to realize the fault in the fact that I am here talking with him elates me and makes me cross my arms across my chest with my cane in my left hand and I say: "Told you I'd find you." And while the Skunk turns white, obviously out of fear, do I look around and with a calm tone, do I say:  
"Just didn't think it'd be in here, really. Guess when Bentley and the others got back the ancestral canes and fixed up all the mistakes you made to the timeline, they destroyed your so-called royal reputation, allowing for Interpol to actually arrest you. Though that you're still here – at least one of us is our father's son."  
And while this infuriates the skunk do I then decide to put the icing on the cake as I use my free hand to grasp Endora's and say: "Oh, by the way, thanks for that offer all those years ago, but I think I'd rather take my new fiancé on a honeymoon of my choice, not yours." And while Endora looks at me shocked, do I take my leave with her.

The skunk runs for the glass door of his cell, but this is exactly what I wanted as I had actually snagged the keys to all cells off the guard at the entrance to this prison while sneaking through the air vent and before Endora can realize what has happened, have I turned around, wrapped a cloth around my muzzle and entered the cell.  
Le Paradox gets blown back by the force of my push against his cell door and while he hits his head against the stone wall of his cell, sags down and tries to keep consciousness, do I grab his papers, separate them from his catalogue and rushed back out. The Skunk shakes his head and with a smirk do I lock his door yet again.  
The creature dashes back for the door, but I just swing the keys around on my finger and smirk at him as I say: "Sorry Le Paradox, you may take a Cooper from his Gang, but you can't take Cooper abilities from a Cooper. I may have spend the last 8 years in the Dessert, but I certainly haven't forgotten who I am or where I belong.  
I just feel relieved to know that we're all where we belong now, so – happy stay." And while Endora looks at me with amazement and glee in her eyes, do I wrap my arm around her waist and say: "Let's go deliver these escape plans to Barkley, I think he'll be very interested to know which of his prisoners plans to escape."  
And while the screams of the Skunk fall on deaf ears as the glass door is apparently also soundproof, do my fiancé and I return back the way we came, me again using the air vent to avoid the guard at the front entrance – and actually returning him his keys without his notice – and both of us using our own ways to get to Barkley's office.

To my amusement does it seem as if Barkley takes the fact that I picked the lock of his window personally as there is now an outdoor and indoor lock on the window, yet I shake my head at seeing this and think: "As if something that simple can keep a Master Thief of my caliber out. Sorry, Barkley, no can do."  
And while Endora talks with Barkley, again showing the dog her ring and having a huge, adorable smile on her gorgeous face, do I easily use a small picklock on the outdoor lock and once that pops, do I pull a small thin bar flat as a knife from the fire escape, using my cane to lift the window and then use the bar to open the lock.  
The fact that this second lock can be opened just by putting the flat bar under it and then turning the bar in a diagonal shape makes me shake my head and then I loudly open the window and ask: "Care for another try, Chief. I could use some more training, you know, and this little lock was just too easy for someone my level of expertise."

And while Endora just shakes her head with her eyes turning skywards, does Barkley look at me as if I grew a second head and I show him the metal bar as I say: "I mean, why aren't you using those electronic, internet locks anymore? I would have needed Bentley's help to pick that and that would have been a challenge."  
Yet the answer Endora gives me shocks me as she says: "Actually Sly, we switched from those locks to more regular, easier ones – after you joined me in working for Interpol." This shocks me greatly and while part of me wonders why I didn't notice this happen to such a large building at the time, do I shrug and flip the item onto the desk.  
The dog looks at the bar as it lies on his desk and I say: "Well, I don't work here, so – use this as evidence and give me my challenge back." And before the man can phantom what I said, do I send Endora a wink that says: "I'll see you later, gorgeous." Before I jump and use my cane to skyrocket out of the window.

I then land onto the roof of the building and use the momentum of my jump to vault backwards and across the one-way traffic road and once I have landed on the draining pipe of the building on the other side, do I turn on my axis and rush across the roof, the feeling of the Parisian air in my fur making it rustle with glee.  
And while it has been more than 8 years since I last rushed across these roofs, past these emergency exits, dashed over these draining pipes and jumped from one lamp post to another or sneaking over barred fences and flag poles, do my instincts make it almost too easy for me to move from house to house, from building to building.  
The fact that I am still so used to this town, my town, makes me just giddy with happiness and warm with love for the city I have first become famous in and while the sense of being home fills me for the umpteenth time, do then spot something that actually calls on the Constable I have been more or less becoming the last few years.

A young cougar with dark brown fur and black spots with auburn rings around her spots and with reddish brown hair is dashing alongside me, yet her way of running and her pace prove that she doesn't know I am here above her and that she is trying to run away from something, which a quick look back proves why.  
Muggshot – one of my very first enemies, one of the people responsible for my parents' murder and an all out idiot that constantly comes back into my range of view is using his muscular forearms to dash across the sideways, his muscles making it so that he is only a feet or two behind her, yet the look in his eyes is what alerts me.  
Pure lust is very, very visible in the yellow eyes of the gigantic bulldog and the way that he keeps licking his lips and snickers whenever the girl almost trips over her own dashing feet makes it more than clear to me why he is chasing this poor girl and while anger fills me, do I think: "I guess it's time for some more training."

And with that do I feel very happy about three things. The first being that I am on a set of houses that is only two-storied. Another being that the girl dashes around the corner and with that runs for the third reason I feel happy about; a flag pole that reaches out to a very high stationed lamp post on this side of the road.  
I speed up my pace and leap for the flag pole, using my bare feet to dash across it with ease before pulling my cane out and I quickly stop at the end of the flagpole and gaze out at the poor girl and her idiot pursuer and just when the girl dashes under my flagpole, do I jump, hook my cane onto the lamp post and slide down it.  
Muggshot does seem to notice my movement, but before he can actually see what I am doing or who I am, do I swing around the pole, use the momentum to unhook my cane from the post and kick the giant mutt straight in his chest, the fact that I am flying at him and that he was running my way making him fly back.

The cougar stops, her face covered in sweat and her fur sticking to her skin in several places, making her marks look very strange on her face, while her hair is all frazzled up and while swishing my cane in quick circles behind my back, can I not help but ask: "How is it that irritating skunk is behind bars and you're still out here?"  
The mutt, that had actually landed, rolled backwards several times and then hit his back and the back of his head against another lamp post with a loud smash, rubs his knuckles over the back of his skull and I whisper: "You got any heavy jewels I can use to knock him out if needed?"And the girl quickly hands me a large pearl necklace.  
I smile at her and hide it by putting both my hands behind my back, my glare focused back on the enemy in front of me, who grunts, gets up from where he was half-lying on the floor and then he says something that infuriates me more than he ever did. "Hey come on, bro. I wasn't out for you – I just want some fun with that gal."

And the squeal that the cougar behind me proves she has no interest in this idea whatsoever and I growl: "You better call Interpol, Muggshot, because they might finally get a reason to arrest me. Namely for murdering a fellow villain." And just when it seems that the bulldog has recognized my voice, do I charge at him.  
Yet before I can even do more than dash halfway cross the street at him, the bulldog wide eyed when he sees how furiously I am coming at him, does something shock me as a metallic arm suddenly plucks me off the pavement halfway across my dash and to my shock am I pulled into a convertible with Bentley at the wheel.

"WHAT THE HECK!" I shout, my rage at the bulldog now aimed at my best friend, yet Bentley ignores me as he taps the ear-communicator in his own ear and asks: "You got her, right Dimitri?" And while wondering how I missed my team being near me this entire time, do I hear the voice of the Iguana answer:  
"Yeah bro, Dimitri's got the sweet feline safe and smooth, no problems. You safe now, cheri, no worries, no worries." And while Bentley puts his hand from his ear back on the wheel, do I turn around and see Muggshot looking at our driving car with shock on his face and a hint of fear clear in his eyes.  
This fear calms some of my anger and I ask: "Bentley –?" And the turtle answers: "Every now and then Interpol asks us to make reports on criminals that they constantly find escaping their grasp. In return, for every paper we hand in, they take 1 crime off of our records. Muggshot has been our target for the last 5 months."

This shocks me and I ask: "Then – wait, you were following him when I was and you heard what he wanted to do with that pour cougar girl?" Bentley nods and says: "We did. I've worked on our ear-communicators and now they are both for communicating between members and to record discussions in our surroundings."  
He then smiles at me and says: "Though so far, we have yet to really get close enough to him to get his voice recorded as clearly as we just did. Thanks a ton, Sly. We may have been keeping him from potential targets for his attempted crimes, but so far they were all long-distance and we have yet been able to get his voice clear on tape."  
This makes me smirk and I ask: "So you actually have the most defining evidence against this bastard you could ever get, all because I had no idea you guys were doing this?" The turtle nods and this makes me turn on my seat and lounge on the passenger seat with my arms behind my back and with a large grin, do I say:  
"I love being back on the team." And just the smile that Bentley sends me before he focuses back on the road, buttons on his wheel obviously meant to be used for the brakes, accelerator and the gear shift, do I know that my best friend and the first person I ever considered family after my parents died feels the same.

* * *

 _ **Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **Okay, so the whole confrontation between Le Paradox and Sly didn't take as long as I first thought, but I am still glad that I left it for this chapter as it fits with the rest of the chapter much better than it would have had I put it in last. Now, next chapter will have Sly and Bentley returning the Hide Out and then focus on the kids.  
**_ _ **Yes, I mean both the kids born from Sly and Endora as well as the ones that are Bentley's and Murray's. I have a few things planned for them and one of them will be proof that, even with the Cooper Gang not being hated by Interpol anymore, not everyone on the Justice side of the law agrees with that thought.  
**_ _ **Have fun guessing,**_

 _ **Venquine1990  
**_ _ **PS. HAPPY NEW YEAR!**_


	8. The Cooper Heirs

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **This chapter will be about the kids and how Sylvester, Dorea and Matthew experience the fact that the former two have their father back. I would do Rin-Gin as well, but the boy has yet to be one, so I doubt anyone really expects for a little infant to be conscious enough to realize what an important figure has returned to his life.  
**_ _ **I will also include Murray's daughter in this, I just forgot to mention her when writing out the subject of this chapter. I am also thinking that, if this story gets an epilogue, it will probably be SylvesterxAngela and MatthewxDorea that the epilogue will be about. And yes, that does mean that the Cooper Gang becomes family.  
**_ _ **Love the idea, no,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sylvester's POV**_

So far the last couple of the weeks have been pretty much the same. I woke up, would do some exercises to keep my muscles lean and growing, would have breakfast that was made by either mum or Dorea, would get ready for school and would then, on the way to school, argue with Dorea of which of our parents professions was better.  
Dorea is totally mum's daughter as she believes in the law so much she sometimes doesn't want to even come along and see Uncle Bentley, Murray and Dimitri as she would stubbornly claim that she didn't want to hang out with criminals, no matter the fact that mum is the one who works for the force and is friends with them.  
At this I often want to shake my head as the girl, while only six, once pushed it so far that she brought Angela to tears, which made Uncle Murray so angry at her he refused to come to our annual Christmas party on Christmas Eve, something that had made the girl feel really guilty and empty her piggybank to buy them expensive gifts.

But while this reminds me of how the girl now only argues with me about careers and what we should do with our futures when our friends aren't around and while I constantly tell her that, no matter what she says I will live up to my namesake, does something happen today to break the slur of repeat going on the last fortnight or so.  
While fastening Rin-Gin in his kiddy-seat, does something in her pocket vibrate and while I take over her job from her, does she take out her Binocucom, which I sometimes nick from her to train with it myself, and does she apparently hear Uncle Bentley ask her something as she waits a few minutes before she answers:  
"Can it wait, Bentley? I need to take Sylvester and Dorea to school." But then she gasps, her eyes even widening and while Rin-Gin plays with the ring of keys that Uncle Bentley gave him a week ago that is attached to the kiddy-seat, do Dorea and I share a shocked and worried look with each other before turning back to her.

Only when we turn back is mum no longer standing on the sideways, but has she put the Binocucom back in her pocket and jumped and slid over the front of her car and before my sister and I can really comprehend what has happened, has mum started the car and has she started driving, not to our school, but to the Cooper Gang Hideout.  
"Mum, what about school?" Dorea asks, her voice high with shock, but mum clasps her phone into the hands-free standard on the dashboard and connects it to the dashboard computer, using the red light we are standing in front of to actually call our school and by the time the red light has turned green, has the secretary answered the call.  
"Hello Endora, is something wrong? Is Dorea sick with flue or has Sylvester got grounded again?" And while I turn red as I sometimes still get caught when practicing my sneaking or stealing skills, but mum shakes her head and shocks us when she answers as her voice sounds clogged up with emotions as she says:

"No Anna, nothing's wrong with my babies. No, there's some other family business that just occurred and my kids deserve to be part of this, so they'll probably be one or two hours late. It – it concerns their dad." And while Dorea and I now share wide eyes with shock, does Anna gasp in astonishment before she says:  
"Of course, Endora, I fully understand. I'll be sure to inform their teachers and let them know. Good luck, dear." And mum thanks the woman before closing off the call, her arms tense and her eyes still on the road ahead of her as we quickly come closer and closer to the Cooper Gang Hideout, even though mum does take a detour.  
"It concerns dad? Does – does that mean –." I think to myself before Dorea proves me that, regardless of our differences in beliefs we are indeed siblings as she whispers: "Has daddy been found, mummy?" And the fact that she calls mum that nickname proves just how overwhelmed my sister feels over this possibility.

Yet while mum doesn't answer us, does it take only ten more minutes before we actually get our answer as, three minutes later, we arrive at the hideout and it takes us only six minutes to take Rin-Gin out of his seat and move past the defensive obstacles build into the hideout and reach the floor where our uncles are.  
Here we find Uncle Bentley, Murray and Dimitri, Aunt Terry and Eleanor as well as Angela and Matthew and it's Uncle Bentley who answers my question as he, Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Murray are all looking at the bathroom door, while Matthew has his eyes on a strange gem and others are dancing in a circle as he says:  
"Highly possible, my love, but I know one thing for sure now and it makes all the guilt and inability I have felt over the last eight years be rid off my shoulders at long last. Sly's time travel was destiny. He is the Epitome of the Cooper Line and because of that –." And then mum just makes my day as she happily says:

"Was Sly Cooper meant to start the Cooper Line make sure they became as famous and notorious as they are today. Only my Ringtail can pull off something like that." And while everyone smiles at my mum, do I feel my heart soar with pride, not just for my dad, but for the fact that I have wanted to be like him for years.  
Then we all move down to breakfast, Dimitri making an entire feast and explaining it to be because dad has finally come back, which to him is reason to party and then finally, after almost eight years of being alive, do I hear the slightly rough, yet smooth and suave sounding voice that mum always said I would inherit in due time speak.  
"Thanks Dimitri, good to see you haven't changed a bit." And when we all turn to the doorway, do my eyes widen as my dad looks like he's been stuck at some kind of rough sandpit for years on end, making me know he must have been stuck in Ancient Egypt, yet he also does look as if he just took a shower of several hours.

The man's grey colored fur has a few specks of sand still stuck to it, which I'm sure would have made Dorea wrinkle her nose had she not been just as shocked as I feel, yet then I focus on the one thing I have always wanted to know about, even though I saw pictures of the man plenty of times; what traits my siblings and I inherited.  
Looking closely at the Raccoon, do I see that Dorea has inherited dad's muscle mass and grey fur, while I have gotten most of my looks from the man, bar the white color at the tips of my fur and the fact that the tip of my own tail is white and curled like my mum's yet it's the similarities between Rin-Gin and dad that shock me.  
Looking between the little baby raccoon and our dad, do I see that there are only two differences between the two; the fact that dad's paws have already turned black in fur, whereas Rin-Gin's is still grey and that the baby has white tips at the tip of his ears and tail, yet in all other ways the two look as if they could be twins, bar their age.

Then dad proves me the one thing that Dorea, when she is in a really bad mood, sometimes voices her doubt over as he calmly walks over to mum and actually kisses her lovingly full on the lips, the same way Uncle Bentley does with Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Murray does with Aunt Terry sometimes before he says: "Good to see you, gorgeous."  
This makes my sister and I share a smile as we know just fine that Uncle Bentley had sometimes feared that mum's changed looks would have made dad's feelings for mum diminish if not fully take down, yet the fact that even eight years in an ancient desert can't do this makes me feel very confident about our future.

And then I get further confirmation of my beliefs as, while mum first explains to dad how she came to her changed looks and what happened to them before he disappeared, does the man then prove that he has been in love with her for years as the man actually exclaims for mum to forgive him for not noticing her distress earlier.  
After doing this, does he pull mum out of her chair and claim to all of us around him that, regardless of her name or looks, he loves her no matter what and after mum hugs him, do I see the master thief that my Uncles always talk about as Dad seems to take something small out of his glove before he proves his undying love.  
Having seen the videos of what Uncle Murray and Bentley did this, do I have a huge smile on my face as I see dad going down on his knee and actually propose to mum, the fox screaming her lungs out of her body as she accepts his proposal and the hug the two share prove me that these two belong with each other;

These two are my parents.

By now Dorea and I are back at school and after following a quick lesson before break, do our teachers then take us to stay after class, Dorea's teacher taking her to see me and mine and while they sit us down and while there are slightly concerned looks on their faces, are my sister and I only too happy to tell them the good news.  
"Dad's back!""DAD'S BACK!" Dorea happily exclaims, while I shout it and while my voice overpowers hers, do our voices sync together to say this in perfect sync, our two teachers shocked and before they can do more than smile, do I go on and say: "He's back, he proposed and mum said yes! THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED!"  
And while Dorea cringes a little at my loud voice at the end, do the two teachers in front of us share a happy smile before I suddenly remember that my teacher is actually an ex-Interpol officer who had been requested to work at this school and my class because of my love for my dad and his profession with the request to protect me.

The white and black-furred jackal then smiles at me and says: "So, is there any chance your old man will be joining my old squad?" But while Dorea seems to glow with excitement over this, do I shake my head and say: "I don't think so." Making my sister look at me with eyes wide with shock before I go on and say:  
"Dad's not only been without mum for eight years, he's been without his team for just as long – and even longer if you take the year he faked amnesia to be with mum into account. I don't think, after all those years of being without the group he's grown up with, that dad would do the same thing he did before all of this happened."  
And while my sister seems to think I have lost my mind to say things like this, does her own teacher, a Cheshire cat with short-cut fur smile at us and say: "You know, you two really aren't just different in gender, you're different in what you inherited from your parents too." We both look at her and she turns to Dorea as she says:  
"You obviously inherited Carmelita's inability to keep a firm control over her emotions, yet also her incredible ability to process information very, very quickly. Yet you, Sylvester." Here the woman smiles at me and says: "You inherited Sly's ability to think with his heart. And yes, I worked with Endora, so I do know your dad."

And while I am very happy to hear this and while Dorea looks a little embarrassed to be called out like that, do our teachers then help us get back to the others at the playground, me using a little bit of my stealth skills to make it look as if I had been part of a passing group the entire time, the younger years ignoring me out of shock.  
Dorea, reluctantly, follows me and the rest of the day passes easily, even though I do sometimes have to use my dad's inherited skills to evade a few bullies, who believe that because their parents work for the law that they are supposed to keep me from following in my dad's footsteps, which is a thought that I find outright ridiculous.

Yet the end of the day brings the best event of the day. Class goes out, the last bell of the day rings, I help Dorea with her locker and her homework and then, when we exit the school building and move out into the front yard of the school, do we see something that shocks most of the other kids, but makes us feel utterly elated.  
Standing in front of mum's chestnut brown Ford B-MAX Mini MPV isn't just mum or mum and Uncle Bentley or even – as sometimes happens – mum and Uncle Barkley, but both our parents, dad having his arm around mum's waist in a loving hold and mum happily leaning against dad's side while dad is the first to spot us.  
The man waves his arm at us, the smile that is on his face making Dorea actually tear up a little as I am sure she has been growing slightly anxious as the day passed that her love for the law might make dad not want her and I happily grab my sister's hand before running at the two, mum catching Dorea and dad hugging me.  
And it's that feeling, the feeling of my dad's warm, strong arms around my waist as the man uses his own muscles to pull me into his arms and make me wrap my legs around his upper hips that makes me do what I didn't dare this morning, because I didn't want to ruin my first meeting with my dad; I start crying tears of loving glee.

* * *

 _ **Okay, that's it!  
**_ _ **I KNOW, I KNOW! I keep repeating the same day over and over and over, but using Sylvester actually made it easier to move onto the next event that the family will be partaking in and while last chapter also helped, is it the journey from school that will be the start of this new chapter topic, so in the end it helped.  
**_ _ **What will next chapter be about? Something that you will, in this month, get a little sort of preview of if you were to read A New Era, which is a Harry Potter story, where Harry will be doing the same thing in this month's chapter of that story as Sly will be doing in next month's chapter for this story. And that is all the hints you will get.  
**_ _ **Are we excited yet,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	9. New House, New Family

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **Well, this chapter was definitely the hardest of them all, yet it took me a few weeks to realize why. the problem that made me have so much trouble writing this chapter was because I was still unsure what kind of looks I wanted to give Endora's parents, yet in the end – at the very last day – did I figure some looks out.  
**_ _ **Enjoy them,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

"I just picked my kids up from school. I just got my own son throw himself in my arms as he came back from school. I just picked up the kids that my beloved vixen gave birth to while I was not even there to help her through the pregnancy or even raising them. God, I wonder what she looked like while pregnant."  
Goes through my mind while I gaze out of the window at the front passenger seat of Endora's new chestnut brown Ford B-MAX Mini MPV, which she had apparently bought while pregnant of Dorea and while I still love the tears that little Sylvester had cried when he realized I had wanted to really be part of his life.

I then sneak a quick glance at the driver, imagining her full with – if it ever comes to it – our fourth child, but then shake my head and think: "No, don't go that far. You need to focus on getting back to how life works now that several years have passed. Get to know your kids, get back with your friends and don't forget – get married."  
And that makes the content smile that is on my face while Endora drives us to her home grow even bigger, drawing said vixen's attention as she asks: "Anything good on your mind, Ringtail?" To which I just smile at her and then gently lie one of my hands on hers, my finger rubbing over the engagement ring on her finger.  
The fox looks at this and then smiles at me with love strong in her eyes before she focuses back on the road, but as I follow her example, do I suddenly notice that we're not anywhere near the house she and I shared when I faked amnesia and the fox herself seems to notice my surprise, making her smirk slightly before she says:

"I had to move, Sly. My old place just wasn't big enough to raise three kids, especially not a boy and girl who were so different from each other when it comes to professional desires." And while this makes me look back at my oldest two kids, Dorea looking a little uncomfortable with her mother revealing this before she says:  
"But don't worry, Ringtail, I kept hope you would come back some day, so I kept my old decorations – that you were used to before all of this – in mind when looking for a new place." This makes me turn back to my beloved fiancé and I smile at her widely, the fox herself sending me another large smile before she focuses back on the road.

A few streets and blocks further, do we stop at an apartment complex that is both made of many stories, while I can also see that some apartments have two floors and others only one, making it so that there are actually 12 floors and 8 apartments spread over the entire building, each apartment having 5 windows on the front.  
"I moved to one of the single floors. Dorea would rather have double floors, but she agreed that making sure you had some places that were familiar for you would be better for when you returned." Endora then tells me and while I give smile at her, do I then help my daughter out of the car and hug her gratefully.  
The girl squeals a little when she feels me hugging her, but then happily wraps her arms around me and while I have no doubt that she might feel a little embarrassed, do I happily carry her in my arms as I follow her mother and my future wife into the apartment complex, Endora carrying Rin-Gin as she opens the door.

We then move over to the ninth floor through a simple small–sized elevator and once there, does Sylvester take the door key from his mum and open the door for us, me releasing Dorea with one arm to happily ruffle my son's hair in pride, before a large, warm smile grows on my face as I reenter a very familiar setting.  
An oval shaped room with two closed doors in the left wall, a large set of glass doors leading to a balcony against the back wall, one open doorway that can fit a set of double doors in the right wall which has an arch for a doorway and which leads to a large kitchen and two more doors on the left of this arched doorway.  
The room itself has just enough furniture in it that it both nicely adds as decorations as well as functional as there is a large sofa with egg-shaped back rest that bends into the right arm rest set in the middle of the room, with a large flat screen TV a few feet in front of it, stood in such a way it does not bar the view to the balcony.  
In between the arched doorway and the first door on the right wall there is a broken white cabinet of three doors with two glass vases on top of it and a small glass bowl in the middle that has several small knickknacks in it. And finally are the walls a soft white and is there is small striped brown, grey and black carpet on the floor.

"You're right, gorgeous. Other than the two extra doors does this look exactly like I remember. So, I'm guessing the kids have their rooms on the left and yours is on the right?" I ask, while Endora helps Rin-Gin out of his jacket and shoes and she says: "Yes, and Rin-Gin sleeps in a crib with my room, so you still have yours."  
This shocks me and while I wonder if she did this to make me feel more comfortable or because we still have our conversation to go through, does she then prove me it's the first as she pops her head over the egg-shaped backrest of the couch as she says: "Unless you'd rather start sharing a bed with me, we can move it all easily."

This makes me smile at her, while Dorea and Sylvester cringe in youthful disgust and while I help my daughter back down on the floor, do I then use this time to think through her incredible offer, but then remember my own earlier thoughts and this makes me sigh, move over to my fiancé and hug her close as I softly tell her:  
"As much as I would love that, gorgeous, can I just not forget the pain I caused you when I lied to you for that whole year. I love you, Endora, but I – I don't want to share a bed and life with you until we have everything sorted out. So no, gorgeous, you keep Rin-Gin with you and I will try and earn my rights to share a bed with you."  
The woman had looked shocked when I had started, yet she happily hugs me back and then seems to decide that she's still not ready to discuss said problems as she jokingly asks: "Did that desert knock maturity into you?" To which I glare at her with a loving smile and then, after making sure we won't hurt Rin-Gin, do I move.

Endora shouts in shock, when I move us so that her back is against the lower half of the egg-shaped backrest and then, while leaning over her, do I whisper: "Maybe, or maybe I just wanted to be absolutely sure I was perfect for you when I finally came back. And I intend to be, gorgeous, just because you're worth it."  
And while both Endora and Dorea, who I can see standing at the doorway from over the backrest, turn a little bit red, does a knock at the door startle us all and while I now look over the backrest of the door, does Dorea ask: "Who's there?" And my whole fur turns white with sudden fear as I hear an elder voice reply:  
"Your grandpa and grandma, dear. Open up." And Endora yelps as she mutters: "I completely forgot. My parents were going to come over and have dinner with us tonight." Yet while I hear her, do I feel my body screaming at me to use the balcony to flee and get back to the Hide-out, yet my mind is telling me different.

Not willing to meet the two people who had lost their daughter for so long on the same day I practically stole her away from them again, do I make a split decision as I don't want my new wife-to-be to think me a coward and I say: "I'll be in my room, you talk them through it all, okay?" Endora nods and I sprint from the room.

 _ **Endora's POV**_

I feel just so stupid for forgetting about this appointment, yet at the same time do I feel very proud of Sly as I have no doubt that the Raccoon still feels slightly bad about himself and that he worries how his reappearance in my life will be taken by my parents, so the fact that he didn't just go up and flee makes me very proud of him.  
"What's with dad?" Sylvester then asks and while I give Dorea an approving nod to let her open the door, do I say: "He's just a little worried how his return will be taken by people he's never met, but who have important roles in our lives.""Like who?" I then hear a familiar female voice ask and I look up from my son.

My mum has my Albino white fur, yet my purple eyes have their golden specks in them thanks to her as she has soft yellow colored eyes, yet her form is where I got my own natural muscles from as she has strong muscles all over her arms as well as her legs, something she has been training ever since I joined Interpol many years ago.  
My dad, on the other hand, is a very common looking Red Fox, yet his red fur has often been mistaken for brown when walking in the open air. Where my mother looks like a combat army commander, does my dad have a tall and very lean frame that looks healthy, but not the kind of body one would compare to that of an athlete.  
Both of them have seriously contributed in both my genes and looks as well as the upbringing of my kids as they have really become part of my life ever since I revealed myself for who I really am and have often helped me by taking care of my kids when I had missions that made me leave town for several days to weeks.  
Some of these had been Interpol Missions to take down criminals, others have been Cooper Missions to hopefully find something that could help us get closer to finding Sly or at least his location, yet neither of my parents nor Barkley had ever cared which of the two I had left the city – sometimes country – for.

This is a good reason for me to believe that my parents won't mind that Sly has taken so many actions regarding me and my future so close after his return and then mum sees exactly what I am thinking about as her eyes widen before she asks: "Endora Bellamora, is – is that what I think it is? Is that – an engagement ring?"  
And while my dad's auburn red eyes widen in shock, do I smile and say: "Yes mum, it is. And three times a guess who asked me?""Winthorp?" Dad asks and while I know darn well that, even with the kids being who they are, the weasel has yet to give up on his simple crush on me, yet the name still makes me cringe and snap:

"Heck no, of course not!" And just the semi-guilty smile on my dad's face makes me send him a mock-angry glare, Dorea and Sylvester snickering each while Rin-Gin happily wiggles his arms around, but then something happens that makes my very heart shoot up my throat; Rin-Gin rolls himself off the couch.  
Hating how, even with the egg-shaped backrest, the couch itself is still too high for such a thing to happen, do I feel my whole body tense in pure fear, yet it seems as if Sly didn't close his door when he left the room as, before I can do even so much as blink, does the Ringtail have my youngest son cradled in the shell of his arms.  
The raccoon slowly seats himself down, while his voice has turned soft and gentle, with a hint of fear layered under the care and love that is in his heart as he says: "Hey little one, you need to be more careful. You really gave your mummy a fright there and you almost hurt yourself. No more wiggling like that, okay?"

Yet Rin-Gin seems just as amazed to see his father arrive so quickly and then something happens that I never could have expected as he suddenly starts garbling and amongst his baby-talk, do I hear the word: "Papa." Shocking everyone, yet Sly recovers the quickest as he smiles and mutters: "That's right, I'm your papa."  
And while the newfound daddy hugs his son even closer, do I feel a new wave of tears gathering in my eyes as this is exactly what I had dreamed of when both Sylvester and Dorea were born and then mum says: "He's home." To which I smile at her and my thrilled looking dad as I whisper back at them: "Yes mum, he's home."

* * *

 _ **Okay, the end!  
**_ _ **Wow, that was not easy. I mean, the start of it was, but the way I would bring the family in and how Sly would respond to it, that was a little harder. Yes, there will be a chapter where Sly and Endora will talk out everything that happened to them just before Sly vanished, but that won't be for a few more chapters as I have other plans.  
**_ _ **Okay, enjoy,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	10. Where Is Rin-Gin?

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **This chapter will actually feature something I have often felt would have also been a good start to a story like this. It will also give this story a little more action and will prove that, even if someone is not an enemy of the Cooper Line, this does not keep said person from trying to hurt or otherwise go against said Line and family.  
**_ _ **Excited yet,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

After Rin-Gin gave his mother and grandparents a near heart attack did the whole set of introductions between me and the other two – named Elina and Graham – go very smoothly and after Dorea made a cup of tea for everyone to drink – bar Sylvester, who swore by an orange soda – did we just have a bit of friendly conversation.  
However, Graham soon convinced us afterwards to take the kids outside and after Dorea and Sylvester had put their coats back on, did I convince Endora that I wanted to have the baby-carrier for Rin-Gin and the feeling of having my son strapped to my front made the feeling that I was actually a father all the more real – all the sweeter.  
We had taken Graham's larger Range Rover, of which he had adapted the back in such a way that the back of the car has been replaced for a whole new backseat, allowing for Graham and Elina to sit at the front, me, Rin-Gin and Endora in the middle and Dorea and Sylvester in the back, the two of them excited to sit in this car.

Graham had driven us to a very large park in the very middle of Paris and just by looking through the front gate had I instantly understood why as there was a whole jungle gym set in a sand box almost big enough it could be called a mini-dessert settled just a few miles away from the entrance, yet this sight had also been bad.  
Bad, because just the look of all that sand had, temporarily made me feel as if I was back in the dessert and I had suddenly felt way hotter than before, making me want to put on the large robe, only for me to instantly remember why I was no longer wearing the item and that had, luckily enough, pulled me back to the present.  
Dorea, Sylvester and Endora had definitely noticed me going through this, yet Graham and Elina had not and while I know that the kids only noticed because neither I nor their mother made a move to get out and with that help them get out, do I shake my head and whisper: "Just – just point me to a grass field when we get in."

Endora had nodded and because Rin-Gin is just too young to really understand what is going on, do I accept for Endora to take over the baby carrier from me and put Rin-Gin in it before I get out of the car, Graham and Elina, by now, looking at me worriedly, yet while still feeling a bit reeling, do I shake my head at both of them.  
They nod at me and then, for the first time since arriving back in my own time, do I actively move away from my new family, moving into the park and then away from the jungle gym as I just don't feel ready to feel that much sand just yet and feel relieved to see that mirroring the gym is a huge field of grass, flowers and a few bushes.

Making sure not to draw any attention to me – as I am and remain a Master Thief by heart – do I move with acceptable speed towards the field itself and over to a field of marigolds and other flowers, one that has a few flowers looking as if they have been squashed and I then further this look by lying myself onto this patch.  
Yet, instead of just diving muzzle first into flowers like I want to, do I turn around and softly lie myself down on my back to make sure no one suddenly sees me fall for no reason, yet once I am sure that there is no one looking my way, do I breath in with all the oxygen that is in my lungs to breath in the scent of all these flowers.  
Smelling a scent that I know I would never smell in the dessert then further brings it home that I am finally out of here and just like when I first gazed up at the Eifel Tower after years and years of dessert sand and stony mountains, do I feel as if I am back home, the sound of all these people not even making me feel itchy.

Instead of that does the sound of so many voices make me feel even better, even more at home and even closer to where I feel that my heart belongs; in Paris, in the twenty-first century, with my friends, my team and my family. And these thoughts, these facts, make me feel in absolute bliss as I lie here in this field of grass and flowers.  
Then, a few minutes later, do I feel back at peace with myself and my mind and do I decide to take a gander at my new family, making me roll around in such a way, I am now lying on my front with my arms crossed under my head and with my face aimed at the Jungle Gym and just in time too as Sylvester shouts at me:  
"Hey dad, look at this!" And when I open my eyes, does the smile on my face stretch itself even further as Sylvester is using a large bar hanging between two wooden poles that is at least twice my height above the ground to swing from one ring dangling from the bar to the next, yet it is the way that he does it that makes me smile.  
From one ring does my boy swing back and forth until either one of his feet or one of his hands reaches the next and once he has either his foot hooked into the next ring or has his hand grasping it, does he release the last before continuing onto the up following ring with the same pattern, making me very, very proud.

"Is he looking?" The boy then asks and I share a quick glance, happy smile and wink with my beloved fiancé before turning my focus back on my son and when Endora confirms her son's question, does he do something that stops my heart and makes my eyes widen at the same time as he smiles and says: "Okay, watch this."  
And while at first swinging harder and harder on the ring in his hand does he then launch himself upward away from the ring and in mid air does he make a – to me – very familiar motion of turning on his axis in a similar familiar pattern – before he suddenly lands on the bar holding up the rings with both his feet firmly on the bar.  
This makes my eyes switch between my fiancé and son and the worried look on her face proves that this isn't the first time my son has actually tried the Rope and Iron Bar Walking technique invented by Tennessee 'Kid' Cooper, which makes me look at my son with a strong and mixed sense of pride and concern in my heart.

The boy himself looks a little concerned at first, though most of his concern is hidden by the strong sense of focus and determination that is shown on his face, one that resembles mine when I was his age and older more than ever before, but then for a short moment does the concern get replaced with glee before returning once again.  
All the while this happens do his arms tremble as they are stretched out to help balance him and while the arms had steadied a slight bit when Sylvester had smiled had they then worsened in their trembling before they suddenly steady fully and this makes me want to sigh in relieved pride, were it not for what the boy does next.  
Sylvester takes a deep breath and whispers: "Okay, I – I can do this." And just by the way he hesitates, do I turn my whole body tense with my muscles ready to jump into action at a moment's notice, which happens exactly a moment later as my son tries his first step – and his furry foot trembles too much to properly grip the bar.

The boy slips and shouts, but before he can fall any further than the rings, have I dashed over, using the bench Endora is raising up from to use as a leverage point in my jump and catch my eldest, just like I caught my youngest only earlier this afternoon and with the boy safely in my arms do I land back in the large sand pit.  
Only seconds later do I have Dorea, Endora, Graham and Elina surrounding me and the boy and while the boy is trembling in my arms, do I somehow already know that his tears aren't those of someone who got scared and then Sylvester proves me right as, with the smallest voice I've heard him speak so far, does the boy say:  
"I – I'm sorry, dad. I – I really – I really wanted – I just wanted to make you proud." And while even Dorea, who had obviously been on the verge of lecturing her older brother, falters at this and loses her chagrined look, do I cuddle the boy closer and whisper: "I am proud just of who you are, Sylvester, technique or no technique."

And while I quickly send Dorea a look that silently tells her I feel no different about her, regardless of whether she follows me or her mother in regards to chosen careers, does a sound I never want to hear again suddenly sound over the jungle gym playground as Endora shouts in absolute distress before she asks three horrifying words:  
"WHERE IS RIN-GIN?" And this makes me look up from where I have my son in my arms and over to where the bay carrier is lying on the bench Endora was seated on only earlier, one of the slings that is supposed to be around the person carrying the child dangling off of the bench – and the carrier itself being scarily empty.  
All four of us – Dorea, Elina, Graham and I – rush over to where Endora is already searching the bushes behind the bench as well as several parts of the pathway that the bench is build onto, but then another sound is heard by my sensitive hearing; one that makes my muscles tense and makes me see red with absolute fury

A baby screaming: "Papa!"

* * *

 _ **Wow, wait? WHAT?  
**_ _ **Who took Rin-Gin? Who would be stupid enough to take the child of an internationally sought after Master Thief and a world famous Interpol Officer? Who would commit such a crime – when they have nothing against Sly, his parents or even any of his other ancestors, as I already mentioned in the starter AN?  
**_ _ **Well, in all honesty, it's a self-created OC and trust me, when I think back on this character, do I wonder: How the heck did I ever create someone this – mentally disturbed? Well, the answer is simple; I hate Bellatrix Lestrange and love Harry Potter fanfictions that have Molly Bashing in them, preferably with mental Molly's.  
**_ _ **Do you as well,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	11. The Wrong Mother

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **This chapter has me very hyped. Not only does it prove I am growing as a creator, because I can now create OC's – as already proven multiple times by my story called Rituals and Reading – but I am also very proud that I can create characters this – utterly nuts. Trust me, this self-created character has – issues.  
**_ _ **Have fun,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Sly's POV**_

Whoever it is that kidnapped my son, he or she sure is smart and knows Paris very, very well as this person takes several corners and therefore makes the sound of my son screaming for me weaken in strength of sound whenever the kidnapper does so and strengthen whenever I turn the same corner as he or she is doing.  
Yet, while I give this person my respect for their knowledge of the town, do I hate how he or she is using the busier streets to lose me as I have to rely on my son's voice instead of being able to see the kidnapper and just when I turn the seventh corner, look left and right and then dash left, do I realize something that confuses me:  
"Wait, there are mostly smaller dogs and teenage weasels, foxes and tigers walking around here. So – why can't I see my son over their heads? How big or small is this person anyway?" And with that do I decide to change tactics, pulling my cane out of the holder on my back and makes me rush for a fruit store nearby.

I jump onto one of the boxes set outside, use it to jump up to the blinds that cover the footpath in front of the store and then use the springy fabric to jump over to a large fire-escape before using my cane to swing from the metal-barred floor to the balcony next to it before jumping back onto the fire-escape and climbing the stairs.  
Feeling relieved that the kidnapper seems to believe this a sign of me giving up on her, do I hear how the person seems to have stopped as I no longer hear Rin-Gin's screams becoming more distance and while rushing up higher, do I sign my son with my cane, making him quiet as he looks up at me and sees my reassuring smile.  
Yet at the same time that he sees this, do my own eyes widen as the kidnapper – is a young red panda girl and instantly I understand why I wasn't able to see the kidnapper as the girl is several inches shorter than several of the smaller animals, looking even smaller as she is hunched over and panting from the long run.

By this time have I reached the roof of the set of houses I climbed up on and while taking a close look at the girl holding my little boy, do I both feel as if something about her looks oddly familiar and tap the communicator in my ear with the tell-tale code that tells my team to get to their van and keep their own communicators on.  
I then quickly observe the entire street and something a little further ahead catches my attention. A dark red colored alligator, who is holding an empty baby-carrier to her front, yet who seems unworried and only looks around curiously, her eyes aimed for the street far below her own muzzle as if she is looking for someone small.  
"I can get that she is looking for a kid, but if she was a real mother, she should have looked way more worried. What is her deal?" Goes through my mind and then instantly I get the answer as the small panda girl walks over to her and the face of the alligator woman brightens up in such a sick way, it instantly infuriates me.

"Good work, my little one. Now come on over and give your new baby brother to me." The woman then says, the way she says this with such ease instantly setting my entire body aflame with furious rage and I dash over to where they are standing, feeling excited over the fact that there is a string attached to the buildings.  
Jumping, I latch my cane onto the string and ride it down to one of the light posts on the sidewalk and while riding down, do I hear the voice of the little panda girl speak and she says: "You shouldn't have told me to take him. I saw his parents and – well –." Yet the woman doesn't allow her to go on any further and says:  
"Oh sweetie, I am doing this for you. I am helping you get a nice and big family." At this point have I landed on top of the light post and while using my cane and toes to slide down the post, do I say: "Only problem is, she is obviously not yours and neither is my son." Making the panda and alligator look at me shocked.

I land on the sidewalk and swing my cane in my hand before easily holstering it, to the shock of the two in front of me as well as several other pedestrians who all move back against the buildings on the side as they see me land, yet the only thing I have eyes for is the way that the girl is still holding my son out to her so-called mother.

"What do you mean, she's not mine. Of –." The woman then wants to rant, yet the only thing I want is to take her down and save my son and so I stop her mid-rant and say: "She's not yours. I have a very diverse team and have been all around the world and trust me, no matter what animal your partner was, she cannot be yours.  
And that's not even the only reason I know she's not yours. I can hear in your voice a hidden undertone of anger, proving that you are forcing your motherhood onto her, which no natural mother should have to feel, plus neither her hair nor her eye color match yours in anyway. So sorry, but I _know_ that girl is not yours."

Yet while I say all of this, do I hear Bentley whisper in my ear: "Sly, keep her talking, we're three streets away from your position." Which had made the smirk on my muzzle grow while speaking, something that only worsened as I saw the alligator grow more and more agitated the longer I spoke and then I asked:  
"So tell me, amuse me, enlighten me. What possible reason could someone who –." I quickly look her up and down before I say: "Obviously has never had a criminal record before, have to go and kidnap the son of not just an infamous Master Thief, yours truly, but also the finest, most competent Interpol officer ever?"  
And while the panda girl squeals in fear at hearing this and while she now has trouble holding onto Rin-Gin as the boy is reaching his small arms out to me, making sad-sounding baby sounds along with calling for me, does something then happen that instantly makes me pull my cane back out and call onto all my speed.

The alligator tries to reach for the little Raccoon, yet before she can do more than reach her arms out, do I have the round tip of my cane under her maw and against her neck as I angrily hiss: "Don't even try. You are here to answer questions only, not anything else and definitely not to continue this attempt at kidnap, capish?"  
The female turns wide-eyed and very white under her red-colored scales and I snap: "Now again, why did you go out and kidnap not one, but two kids? What is your motive?" And while this makes part of me feel as if I am once against Constable Cooper, do I push this part of me down as I keep all my focus on my new enemy.  
The woman locks eyes with me, the fear in her gaze growing as she sees that I am all business before she takes a deep breath and say: "I cannot expect someone like you to understand, but – fine." At this do I glare at her and step back, keeping my cane in hand, but also keeping myself between her and the little panda girl.

The woman scowls as she sees this, yet I send her a glare to tell her to hurry up her story and she lets out a small, feral growl before she says: "Listen close, you overly mangled mutt and maybe you will learn something. I used to be the infamous Lady Cina Aztek and I had everything any person ever wanted out of life.  
I was famous, had the voice of true Siren and had more fans and admirers than Las Vegas has casinos and hotels. I even had a man of my own, the Great Octavio of Venice – but then, several years ago, disaster struck and I discovered that, as much as I had and could accomplish, giving birth to a child of my own was not on that list."  
This slightly shocks me, even though I had more or less already been suspecting something like this being the case and the woman goes on: "Octavio, the dirty bastard, took terribly to this and even accused me of betraying him before focusing himself so fully into opera that – well, you would know, wouldn't you?"

And while I have no doubt that the words are supposed to sound accusing, do I just roll my eyes as I never ever felt bad for taking down idiots like that oil mobster, mostly because that heist also resulted in my reunion with one of my two best friends and while pulling myself out of the memories, do I continue listening:  
"Exactly. So after losing both my chance for a family and my one true love, did I decide to change my style of songs to let my fans know of my pain and despair, yet those disgusting little fair-weather brats took just as terribly to my new genre as my sweet little poopy-poo had taken to the news of my infertility and they ditched me.  
After this, did all of my sponsors, bosses and the presidents of the companies I sung for drop me, telling me I could only keep my popularity if I were to stop moping like a little girl, yet I couldn't let go off losing my future babies and my husband to be and so, as careless as they were, they dumped me on the street just like that.

And apparently –." By now the woman seems furious with her past, yet while I feel slightly for her for trusting on selfish prats like she had, do I wonder where her actual family was in all this, yet I keep quiet on this as the woman lets out another growl, this one stronger and with more fury than I feel is good for a possible mother.  
"Apparently I had gone over some of my budgets in regards for cloths and jewels, something that only befits a lady of my fame and glory, and so they even took me my penthouse and instead stuck me in some mongrel of a flat apartment near the worst parts of this once so glorious city and then – they just left me there to rot."

At this point in time has all the pity I have felt for the woman before died out and have started leaning against the light post that stands between the crazy woman who had actually snapped her large jaw closed in indignation and fury at the end, yet while I keep my cane in my hand, do I just raise an eyebrow at her as she goes on:  
"So there I was, a beautiful, glorious star, fallen way, way before her time, fated to be set into the music history of legends yet pulled down to the level of a bloody subservient caretaker or something, who had lost her destined husband, her future offspring and her destiny as a glorious singer all in the course of two weeks."  
By now I really hope my friends will hurry up so I can stop listening to her whining and just take back my son, yet my lessons as a gentleman that my mother taught me when I was still a little youngster keep me from interrupting the crazy, self-absorbed reptile in front of me as she is now starting to look determined and says:

"Yet, after wailing in self-pity as any true person would do, did I make one decision I have been keeping to ever since. As much as I had lost, my fame, my glory, my fans, my producers, my future husband, I would never fully lose the one thing that any woman of my greatness should be withheld from; a family of my own."  
She then glares at me and says: "There. Now you know my sad, terrible story. Now, be an actual gentleman and give me back my kids." Yet while this reignites the fury within me, do I snort and say: "I heard you, yet I also wonder something. In all the time you lost those things; where exactly in all that were your parents or family?"

And the answer the woman gives me makes me want to hit myself over the head as she asks: "Those stupid, talentless weaklings? Why would I want anything to do with them? They had me as a daughter and sister, so they naturally had great talents just like me, yet they wasted their lives instead to stupid lame things like laws and whatnot."  
This alone makes me look behind me and at those that are still standing against the buildings to the left of me as I ask: "You had a member of your family turn to the law – and you still broke it by kidnapping other people's kids?" And just by my tone of voice does the woman bristle as she realizes I am mocking her before she snaps:  
"As if you would ever understand anything about love, you –.""I do." I interrupt her, shocking her before I say: "I gave up on a heritage that is over 3000 years old, just to take up a profession that is the complete opposite of my family's profession – all just so I could be with the one I love. So sorry, but I know more of love than you."

The woman looks at me shocked and I say: "Also, I've spent the last near nine years in the middle of a dessert so far away from my friends that normal travel would never allow us to reunite and even in all those years, I kept my cool, my beliefs strong and my trust in my friends finding me and our reunion alive, no matter what."  
The woman seems shell-shocked by this time and then I smirk and say: "So yes, I now know your story, only – I'm not the only one." And with that do I use my free hand to reach for my ear and tap the communicator as I loudly ask: "You got that all, guys?" And the woman turns whiter than snow as she hears Bentley say:  
"All of it, Sly, and we got it all recorded, together with a report of her current living arrangements. Chief Barkley is heading there now and we are just awaiting your signal, pall." To which I smirk, lower my hand and then, before anyone can even blink, is the woman on her front, her maw held in the round part of my cane.  
I myself am leaning on her spine with my knee and foot pressing into the top and bottom of her spine while my free hand is having a firm hold on the end of her tail, yet it is the sounds of me moving and my cane swishing through the air as it knocks the animal down, flips her over and grasps onto her maw that alerts my friends.

Instantly the large blue van with Cooper symbol at the front scurries around the corner and with a halt that is indicated by screeching tires, does the whole vehicle come to a halt besides me and only a minute later does the side door open and does a loud, to my ears very, very pleasant voice shout: "THUNDER FLOP!"  
Before the gigantic pink mass of my best friend jumps out of the van and only a second after I release the alligator woman of my hold and jump away, does Murray land on top of her with his full weight, making many of those around me cringe, while I smile at my friend using one of his signature moves before switching my focus.

I turn my body from the captured alligator and my friend and over to where the little panda girl is still standing with my son in her arms, Rin-Gin having small tears running down his face as he must be believing that I have ignored his need and this makes my heart ache and move over to the two, the girl stepping back in fear.  
Yet, unlike with the woman from earlier, do I kindly smile at the girl, lower myself down to her level and softly ask: "Hey there, can I have my son back now?" The girl looks from the boy in her arms, his softly muttering: "Papa." Apparently convincing her as she nods at me and moves over, me happily taking my son from her.  
Yet, perhaps because something about her feels so familiar to me, do I smile at her and while making sure that my son is tightly held in my right arm, do I use my left to pull the girl close and while she seems about 5 or 6 years old, is she still very thin and is it almost as easy to pick her up as it is to pick up my own son as I stand up.

"Great diameters!" I suddenly hear Bentley shout and this makes me turn to my friend, my right ear picking up the sound of running footsteps coming from where I had been running from earlier, yet I ignore this as Bentley asks: "Sly, where – where did – where did you find her?" Looking at the girl in great shock.  
This makes me look from the little red panda girl to my turtle friend and I say: "She was one of that lame woman's kidnap victims. Why? Do you know her?" And the answer the turtle startles me, yet not enough to make me lose my grip on the two little ones in my arms: "Do I ever? She's Panda Kings's granddaughter, Jin King's daughter."

* * *

 _ **Wait, what?  
**_ _ **So this crazy, selfish, delusional reptile didn't just kidnap the son of the Master of Thieves and his beautiful officer of a fiancé, she also kidnapped the granddaughter of another member of the Cooper Gang? This is what I meant in the bottom of my last AN; how can anyone be stupid enough to do both of that?  
**_ _ **Well, writing down this character, even though I didn't really give her any real individual looks other than her red scales and her animal type, do I still love having had the chance to create a character with a decent background and even more so to make a reference back to one of the chapters of Sly Cooper 3.  
**_ _ **However I DO NOT OWN OCTAVIO, HIS PLOT OR STORY IN SLY COOPER 3 – HONOR AMONG THIEVES! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS! Sorry, I don't like using excessive caps, but also I don't want to take the risk of getting in trouble with copyrights or stuff like that.  
**_ _ **See you,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	12. Family Trials And Birthdays

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **I have some bad news. I think I am going to cut this story short. That does not mean that this story will go on Hiatus, it means that I think I will be ending the story within the next couple of chapters. This one will be about the found kids finding their families again and after that, I think I will write the ending chapter.  
**_ _ **Why? Well, I am going to be honest with you all; I never thought this story out further than the starting chapter of how Sly returns back to his family. So I will write this chapter and after that – I think I will make a time jump to some months later to when the wedding commences and have that be the final chapter of this story.  
**_ _ **Hope you understand,**_

 _ **Venquine1990  
**_ _ **PS. I might add a chapter of Sylvester's birthday, but nothing else.**_

* * *

 _ **One week later  
**_ _ **Kunlun Mountains, China  
**_ _ **Panda King's POV**_

It has been so many years since I was on Kaine Island. So many years since I saw my Gang leader disappear alongside his family island and heritage. So many years since my daughter had been rescued from a wrongfully arranged marriage and I returned to her after the failure of a mission. So many years since I found her a husband.  
Yet, while the finding of a proper suitor had taken a few years, had it been only a year after she found a husband that something awful had happened. Oh sure, I knew of Sly Cooper, my leader, coming back from faked amnesia and being lost to some crazy time-machine, but to me and my family what happened was much worse.

A year after I lost my leader, I got told of the adventure that the Main Gang would be going through. Two months later, I got told of my leader's second disappearance, this one being one he might never return from. A year and a half after that, I found the suitor and half a year later, the suitor became my daughter's husband.  
Every member of the Gang had been present for the ceremony and they had been present as well when my daughter had told us she was expecting child two months later. However, when the child – my darling little Lima King, had been supposed to celebrate her first birthday, had she instead vanished from our sight and lives.  
That is now six years ago and in just three days will it be my granddaughter's sixth birthday. It has become tradition for myself, my daughter and her husband, a very lean, agile and handsome red panda, who has an incredible height for someone of his specie, to travel the entire world in search for the sweetest of girls.

Because of this are we now, for the sixth time in our lives, packing everything we now know from experience we will need – I myself packing as many disguises as possible in one bag and a few pieces of deadly or destructive fireworks in my canisters, which are disguised as shoulder bags to make sure they go through security no problem.  
My daughter, son-in-law and I had already been told of Sly's actual return and it had inspired us with the motivation that, if Sly can be found back from time-travel, their daughter and my grandchild should also be able to be found as long as we constantly make sure to look at locations we didn't get to reach in previous journeys.

"Going anywhere?" A masculine with a strong hint of suaveness then suddenly asks me as I cloak the canisters and when I look up, do I start smiling as I see the Raccoon that is my leader as I say: "We have a tradition to search the world for my grandchild near to her birthday, which will take place in three days from now."  
To this the Raccoon nods, his smirk alone making me know he has something up his sleeve while he has his right arm behind his back is held in quite the strange angle and while my daughter and son-in-law come join us and while Sly gives them both a happy smile and bow of the head, does he then shock me as he says:  
"Well, maybe I have something here that can help your search." And with that does he move his arm from behind his back, shocking us as he actually pulls a small, thin-looking red panda girl with curly black hair that has a bun on top her head that is set in a very Ancient Chinese style and who has a face that I remember all too well.

"Lima?" My daughter asks, having dropped her own two bags in shock as her hands flew up to her mouth when seeing the little girl and while the girl had been curling up with a clear natural fear for strangers, does she then peak over her own arms, her eyes a silvery brown color that mixes mine and my daughter's perfectly.  
The girl looks at my daughter with a mix of fear and wonder and then softly asks: "Mama?" Making tears of relieved joy appear in my eyes as I had always worried that my grandchild had been too young when she was kidnapped to remember any of us and while Sly and Jing King both crouch down, does my child smile and say:  
"I – I – yes, sweetie. I am your mama and I – I have looked so long for you. I looked everywhere for you. Oh, my sweet, sweet little girl. Come to mama." Yet while Lima first sends an asking glance at Sly Cooper, does the nod she get from my former leader make her dash out of his arms and back in her mother's arms after many years.

The two both have tears streaming down their eyes as Jing King again pulls herself up into a standing position and while Shanda moves carefully to give his daughter a chance to notice his movement, does the girl reach out with one arm, which makes the father of the little girl quickly and happily join the family hug.  
I smile at my little family with tears glinting in my own eyes and then move over to Sly, who has gone back to standing himself with a large, happy smile on his face and I bow to him as I say: "Sly Cooper, your return motivated our belief in finding our missing member and now your return has led to the actual goal of our journey.  
You have yet again proven not just your own worth, but the honor that belongs to the name Cooper. I am yet again in your debt, my old friend." To which the Raccoon raises an eyebrow before smiling and while he then accepts his own little one from the boy's mother, does he prove that this visit is full of surprises as he asks:

"Well then, how about repaying me this supposed debt by being the one to marry me and my beloved when the time is there? Which will probably be in a few months from now, I would like to add." And while this shocks me, does Cooper use his free arm to wrap a loving arm around his beloved's waist and pull her close against him.  
Then Sylvester and Dorea move over, Dorea grabbing her mother's skirt and putting her thumb in her mouth, something she only does around me as my size apparently still slightly frightens me, while Sylvester happily latches his arms on the arm of his dad that holds his little brother, his height even with that of his father's elbow.  
This sight, the sight of the two sons and daughter of the Master Thief, his fiancé and he himself standing so close together proves me what each of us of the Cooper Gang, their friends and their extended family have kept believing all these years. That not even things like time-travel can keep the Cooper Family from enduring.

* * *

 _ **Three weeks later  
**_ _ **Back in Paris  
**_ _ **Sylvester's POV**_

We stayed in China with the Panda King for 2 weeks after the reunion of the King family and the acceptance of Panda King as the one to marry my mum off to my dad and this time definitely improved things between my sister and the large panda, making it so that she didn't suck her thumb in his presence anymore.  
Dad also got the chance to meet and get to know more extended members of his gang and he and Shanda King definitely hit it off, both of them true father figures and having had some kind of hardship in their past, though I do feel amused that Shanda's hardship were his trials to prove his worth as Jing King's husband.  
Yet this actually made the man grow even closer with dad than before as dad really understood what it meant to fight everything you knew for the one you loved and the trials he went through to get together with mum had made the respect that Shanda felt for my dad grow, making them close as brothers as time went by.

Of course Shanda spent way more time with little Lima and of course the girl slowly grew out of her fearful shell as she spent more time with both her parents as well as my sister and I, yet she had been terrified of us both at first, because she believed we would be angry at her and hate her for kidnapping our little brother.  
And while I will not lie and say I didn't feel some resentment, had both her own sadness as well as the story that Uncle Bentley and dad told us make me know that the little girl was as much a victim in all this as Rin-Gin and the rest of us were, her even a little more as she had been the first to fall victim to the crazy reptile's kidnapping.  
Also the way that the girl looked when she came back from the whole event, with her brown and red striped dress having most of the bottom of her skirt looking ripped and tattered and with mud and dust covering both her shirt as well as most of the fur on her arms and neck had proven what a terrible mother her kidnapper was.  
Dorea and I had really taken to the little girl, yet it had taken until after her reunion with her parents before the girl had really warmed up to us, yet the last few weeks have been a lot of fun. Now we have been back home for a week, Panda King having taken his family with us and today is the one day I have been waiting for.

"It's my birthday." Goes through my head as I wake up the morning of my birthday and just my room alone proves how hard my parents have worked together to make our home ready for the large party that will take place later, which will include as many of the friends that both of my friends have made throughout their careers.  
Dad had been worried about this idea at first, yet both Uncle Barkley as well as the badger's superiors had assured him that they had made it tradition to give all the visiting villains immunity as long as they didn't go out and that they had to bring presents that either represented his own profession or were honestly bought.  
The room itself has quite a few garlands and other pieces of decorations, while dad had actually changed my whole bed into one large fake present box and had created a smaller one to be placed in the middle of the living room where everyone would gather for the gifts and the cake that would come later on today.

I then get out of bed and smile at the décor itself as the words _Happy Birthday Son_ are written on all four sides of the box as well as on the inside at the top, making it so that I actually went to sleep seeing the words above my head for the last two days, something that excited me so much I actually had trouble falling asleep last night.  
I then put on the special birthday outfit that Uncle Bentley had created for me, which is a perfect replica of my dad and while I have a bit of trouble getting the peasant's cap on my head right, do I still smile widely as I look at myself in the mirror – that is, until the cap again slides over the top of my face and down my eyes.  
"The trick lies in your own fur." I then hear a strong voice say and I want to look at where it comes from, but the cap prevents me and then I feel someone grabbing the front tip and put it right before I see my dad smiling at me as he says: "If you stroke some of the fur at the back of your head forward, it keeps the cap in place."

This makes me turn a little red as I had tried combing my fur in a perfect split to both sides, yet dad pulls the cap off again and then uses his curled fingers to pull some of my fur to the front without ruining my actual hairstyle before he puts it back and I take a quick look back in the mirror, smiling at how the cap stays in place.  
"There we go, now that's a Gentleman Master Thief." The man says and then he smiles down at me and says: "Now, let's go and get through the ritual before the others come in." to this I nod as dad had assigned me three Cooper techniques to practice, yet he had also forbidden me from practicing them by myself anymore.  
Luckily enough Uncle Bentley and Uncle Murray, who knew of this tradition, had been happy to take a few days off their work to stay close to me throughout my training and now, with Uncle Bentley having sent us a portable training room that has all the obstacles and devices necessary for me to perform my techniques.

Mum had been over the moon at seeing me come home from school, spent an hour on my homework and then sign my uncles before going through the training protocol and while I know that dad had been a little self-conscious, do I also know that mum is just as enthusiastic and excited for me to succeed today as he is.

I then leave the room with my dad and instantly get a strong embrace from my mum before she says: "There is my big birthday boy. Oh Sylvester you have never looked more like your old man than you do now. I am so proud of you." Which makes me share a huge smile of happy pride with the man standing next to me.  
"So, presents, cake or the ritual first?" Dad asks and mum answers: "The ritual. Just wait five minutes so that Bentley can come over. He promised to bring his camera and he said he will connect it to both his laptop as well as all of our Binocucoms, so we can forever watch back on this amazing event." Which shocks and worries me.  
"Don't worry, son, I know your uncle and he will stop the recording if he has even the slightest belief that things will go wrong. After all, you are way more important to him than some video." This instantly takes the self-doubt and worry that had come up in me back down, making me smile and say: "Thanks dad."

A few minutes later have Uncle Bentley, his son and wife arrived and has Uncle Bentley set the portable training room up in the back of the living room before making some quick work on his camera, the laptop built into his wheelchair and his Binocucom and am I standing in the middle of the portable room.  
The room itself has three obstacles build into it; one wall that I need to use self-made grappling hooks on to prove I can handle a cane, two posts with a rope connecting the two of them and finally a small pond that mum filled with water from the bathroom and that has small sticks sticking out of it at various points.  
"The Rail Slide, the Ninja Spiral Jump and Cane use. I have trained on this at Panda King's place and I have trained these here in this room. I just – I just know that I can do them. Today, I am going to do what grandpa got to do with great-grandpa Cooper and what he got to do with his dad; I get to prove my Cooper Worth."

And with that do I take a deep breath, again make sure that my shirt doesn't cover my hands, that my gloves are pulled on tight and that my cap won't slide off before I smile at my parents and Bentley, who is smiling at me from over his camera and while the turtle gives me a thumbs up, do I smile and say: "I'm ready."  
To this the others nod and dad says: "Sylvester Cooper. Today is the eight time you celebrate the date of your birth and – as is Cooper Tradition – you will prove honor once to two of our fine Ancestors and once to the one skill that makes us members of the Cooper Line. You have stated you are ready and now you can prove this.  
As you know, if you fail either the Cane Use, the Rail Slide/Rail Walk or the Ninja Spiral Jump by the end of the day, you will be forbidden of nearing the Family Manuel known as the Thievius Raccoonus until you have practiced enough to retake and actually succeed at these three tasks at a different date. Do you accept these conditions?"

At this I nod and while I'm not sure if my dad speaking like this is part of the tradition or just to explain this event to whoever could re-watch it at a later time, but then I shrug that thought aside and focus on the task at hand, pulling the grappling hooks out of the holsters that are stuck to the back of my shirt and rush at the wall.  
Uncle Bentley follows me with the camera, while Daddy smiles as he looks at me and mum holds a happily squealing Rin-Gin, while Dorea has a look on her face that is a combination of jealousy, doubt and worry and while I know that she still doubts my chosen profession, do I not let any thought of how she seems to feel bother me.  
I jump for the wall and while rushing at the vertical platform, do I raise my grappling hooks and while I grind my teeth at the fact that I land against the wall with a little more force than I had expected, do I not let this show and do I instead of that start jumping up, pulling back to give myself momentum and unhook my grappling hooks.

Like this do I happily and proudly rise up the wall to the cheering of both my little brother and mother, yet I know just fine why my dad is not cheering along as he is now taking the role of judge much more serious than the role of supporting father and this alone makes me more determined to pass this test and do him proud.  
Then I reach halfway up the wall and crouch down before unhooking my grappling hooks and while I do this, do I make a backflip and several other moves before reaching the pond and some of these moves allow me to put my hooks back in the canisters before I land on one of the poles with the tip of my left paw toes.  
My right lower paw is crossed over my left knee and my hands are pressed against each other with the back pressed alongside each other and after landing, do I take a deep breath, having studied the original creator of this move enough to know that this technique requires me to let go off all my stronger emotions.  
My tension, my need to prove myself, my excitement both for this test and over my birthday, my happiness to have my dad back, my elation at the fact that I have my family fully together and my pride over how the kidnapping of my brother helped my dad get back into the game leave my tense body as I keep breathing.

Then, while I had my eyes closed to further focus on letting go off all this, do I then open them, before quickly closing my left one in a wink that I am sure my family can recognize even when they can only see the left side of my face and while the hidden snort of my mum makes me know I succeeded, do I then continue the ritual.  
I crouch in on myself and jump, making the same swirling motion and switching the stances of my legs before landing on the next pole with my whole body in the same pose, bar for my legs as my left is now crossed over my right and my right is now used to land on the pole and while continuing this action, do I keep jumping.  
The poles rise a little in height with every few poles and with each jump do I feel it becoming easier and easier to go from one jump to the next and suddenly, just before I reach the point where the poles go over into the two poles with the rope tied between them, do I realize that I am moving with the swiftness of a true ninja.

This makes a hint of happiness go through my heart, yet unlike what happened a few weeks ago, do I not let my emotions break my focus and then I make one last jump, make a spiral move in mid air that is in the opposite direction of when I did my Ninja Spiral jumps, yet instead of landing on one leg, do I then land on both.  
A hint of pain does shoot through me as I feel the cable slightly cut into the flesh between my toes, yet other then letting it show on my face for little over a second, do I then steel my nerves and while mentally envisioning how there are cowboys wanting my head, do I start to dash across the steel cable to the other side.  
The feeling of the steel does hurt the small cuts that are expanding between my toes with each step, yet other than trying to hide my pain by squinting my eyes in concentration, do I not let the pain actually show on my face, yet at the same time do I happily jump off the other side, making several twirls before landing on my front paws.  
I then use the momentum to make a summersault and while part of me wonders if this will cost me points, do I happily let my paws drench in the water as I land in the pond before looking up and seeing the ecstatic faces of my mum, uncle Bentley and siblings makes me happily smile before bowing to prove I have ended my test.

My mum, sister and uncle all happily applaud me, yet other than a proud smile does dad keep his arms crossed over his chest, even when mum notices, glares and slaps him on the back as she asks: "What is your problem? Your son just passed his ritual test, didn't he?" But then dad worries me as he looks me up and down and says:  
"He did – yet I do have to strap some points." The others look at him shocked and Bentley even pulls the camera view away from me and over to dad as he asks: "Why?" To which dad walks over and says: "First off, this test is one to prove one can perform certain techniques, not to prove they have absolute immunity to pain.  
Sylvester has barely ever done the Ninja Spiral Jump, yet he didn't show any pain or discomfort when he had to balance his whole weight on one foot, let alone how his whole body pressed down on one leg at the time with each jump. And that is not even mentioning his missing equipment, though that is not his fault."  
This confuses both me as well as the others, yet dad has a calm smile on his face as he looks down at me, yet it takes me a few seconds to realize he isn't looking me in the eye, but more down my body and when I look down, do my own eyes widen and does my mum let out a startled yelp as the water around me – is turning red.

Dad nods as he sees me looking and then turns to Bentley and asks: "Bentley, care to explain why you didn't include my fur rings into Sylvester's outfit when tailoring it?" And the turtle cringes before slapping himself on the head, yet this question confuses me until dad bends down and raises his own left paw.  
He then reaches for it and to my shock, does he pull a small set of dark black rings that are the same color as his own paw fur from his three toes before he says: "It may have taken Tennessee some time after the creation of his technique, but he created these alongside the technique and they have been required equipment ever since.  
So this may be the fault of your uncle more than your own, yet I do still need to take points for you not thinking of this yourself, seeing it was you who chose the Rail Slide-Walk technique yourself and you knew for over a week that you would be crossing a steel rope. You did it on shoes back then, you could have thought of this."

At this I can only nod, while part of me is now feeling absolutely terrified, but then dad's calm smile grows and he says: "However, Cooper Law and Order states that only if points have been taken for three or more faults, the child experiencing this ritualistic test is punished and considered to have failed the test.  
You, Sylvester Cooper, only made two mistakes and one of them was not even fully your own, which makes it one and a half mistake. Because of that –." And with that does dad pull something from his back, my eyes widening as I believe I will be receiving grandpa Cooper's cane, but then a different one appears.  
And what a cane! It is actually the size of both my grappling hooks combined and has one golden hook on one side and a silver one on the other and the wood itself is made of the same type as the wooden poles that are used in the playground at the park we had been playing at on the day my dad had come back to us.

"I could clearly see in your training that you were ambidextrous and that you had no care for which hand you used. The way that you had your hands pressed against each other with their backs also made me pretty sure that a cane like this would suit you the best. And finally did the wood feel quite significant to my taste."  
At this I smile at the man as he sends me a wink with his back aimed at the camera and then, while Uncle Bentley rolls his camera over to have a better vision of us both, do I happily take the cane from the man and then start swinging it, the movement of the cane feeling fluent to me as I switch it from one hand to the other.  
Swinging it in circles as I switch hands and then move it behind my back and back to my front while still keeping the twirling motion going, do I love how the wood feels in the grasp of my gloved hands and then I throw it up and catch it, only for the twirling wood to slip through two fingers and fall in the slowly changing blood.

At this I cringe, but then dad snickers and says: "I thought that was going a bit too smoothly. I needed three weeks to get used to using dad's cane and that was even before I started my training for the ritual. You do have all of that on camera, right Bentley? You do have the test and the results all on tape, right pall?"  
And when Bentley closes off the camera as evidence that he does, does mum smile and say: "Alright then, let's go and get those cuts cleaned and patched up before the other guests come." And with that do I happily accept how dad lifts me in his arms with a caring smile on his face before he carries me back to my own room.

An hour or so later has everyone arrived and after accepting all the well-wishes and congratulations of the arrived guests, both for passing my test and getting my own cane as well as for my birthday and becoming eight, did Bentley gather the whole group together on and in front of the couch before showing off the tape.  
Everyone's eyes are wide as they see my movement and while I feel a little stupid now that I see how I keep trying to hide that my movement and actions are causing me pain, do I still feel very proud of myself, yet I also notice how, at the end, my body is actually slightly shaking with holding back on the pain in my feet as I run.  
The others also cringe as they suddenly notice the slow way that the water turns red with my blood and grandma instantly asks me if I was okay, yet dad smiles and says: "Don't worry, Eline, it may have looked like a lot, but there was barely any blood loss. The pond just made it all look worse than it actually was."

My grandma nods and then the others all hear what dad has to say and how I responded to getting my very own cane, the others laughing softly as the video ends with me turning a soft shade of red as I pull the cane from the red-colored pond with my dad recounting his own first experiences with a cane and giving me his opinion.  
Then Uncle Bentley turns off the camera and the TV and the rest of the day is just amazing. The presents I get from my own and my parents' friends are brilliant, the cake grandma and mum baked for me tastes brilliantly and the whole thing ends with an actual show of how dad, Uncle Bentley and Uncle Murray work together.  
They too use the training room, yet Uncle Bentley had taken some more advanced equipment with him this morning and the tricks and techniques the three of them perform in this show look too incredibly fluid to make anyone believe that they could have rehearsed this and that makes me even more envious of their teamwork.

Yet dad is nothing if not a true Master Thief, a charmer and someone with a – to some – strange sense of humor as he started the whole show with a large cloth bag over his shoulder, yet at the end is the bag strangely enough looking stuffed and then, while opening it and showing several pieces of jewelry, does he ask:  
"Anyone missing something?" And while many mouths drop at seeing the personal valuables that are in the bag, can I only look at my dad with a huge smile of admiration on my face, while the smile on my dad's face is so huge and filled with gleeful excitement and pride that even my mum seems unable to get angry.  
Bentley then motions the audience to come and reclaim their stuff and while people like Uncle Barkley mutter and grumble under their breath and while mum sends dad a look that tells him he is lucky not to be in trouble as she takes back her actual shockgun, do I personally feel as if this is the best ending to my birthday ever.

* * *

 _ **And there we have it!  
**_ _ **Okay, I will admit it, the ending was a little hard. Once I got past the whole test part, did I have to summarize the rest of the birthday as I just didn't really know who to describe as the friends of either Endora or Sly and neither did I feel to decide who of them knew Sylvester well enough to get him personal gifts and who didn't.  
**_ _ **This is more or less the whole reason behind me deciding to cut this story short and to just leave it to the wedding chapter and then consider the story fulfilled. This story was never meant to be complicated; it was the simplicity of the story that I loved, yet I didn't want to keep this story going with just simplistic topics.  
**_ _ **Writing about a family that, while having very different professions and have, at one time, experienced all kinds of stuff now living the simple life might be an interesting challenge, yet writing about things that happen to each and every one of us every now and then for too long – that might get boring after a while.  
**_ _ **So next chapter will be the wedding, there will be a decision in regards to the Cooper Gang and the Cooper Line alongside a little surprise that will come from Endora's parents in regards to Sly and that surprise will influence the final part of next chapter, but once that has been revealed – the story will come to a close.  
**_ _ **Hope you enjoy,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_


	13. The Wedding And A Few Surprises

_**Hey everyone,  
**_ _ **So, the final stretch. After this chapter the story will end. And I can only add to that statement with one other. In the last AN I wrote how Endora's parents will be giving off a surprise, yet because the wedding chapter is months after last will Endora and Sly also have a surprise of their own for the wedding guests.  
**_ _ **Any idea what,**_

 _ **Venquine1990**_

* * *

 _ **Eight months later  
**_ _ **The Eifel Tower, Paris  
**_ _ **Dorea's POV**_

"This is it! The big day! The one mum and dad have been working towards since practically the third day after Sylvester's birthday. I can't believe this is happening! I can't believe my mum is actually taking the Cooper name instead of my dad taking the Bellamora name. I can't believe I get to keep the Bellamora name!"  
Like so many times before now do these thoughts and many others whirl through my head, which mum had told me is perfectly normal and she herself has definitely had similar experiences over at least the last month, yet while she told me that she had had moments of self-doubt, does the fact that this is still happening calm me.  
Yeah, mum and dad have been working really hard together to get this incredible wedding – which had Interpol practically barricade all of the blocks, rivers and roads surrounding the Eifel Tower – to go perfect and they had even taken some time away from everyone else to talk out everything that went wrong in the past.

The long-awaited talk, the one dad had tried having with mum when they were time-traveling and the one they had hoped to have once their adventure was over, had finally taken place and mum and dad had needed a full week in this as they had told us that, a few times, their pride and tempers had made them almost break up.  
The idea that, instead of my family getting back together, their tempers could have made them break even further apart had terrified Sylvester and me, yet mum and dad had assured us that that was the whole reason they had stayed away for a week, because neither felt right with coming back to us with unsolved conflicts.  
After this had dad still needed some time to himself before he felt confident in himself enough to formally request mum if he could move to join beds with her and mum had been so touched by his tone of voice as he made the request, she had told us to finish dinner ourselves before happily taking dad into her room.  
Sylvester had been beat red with the thought of what the two of them could have been doing there, yet while he had distracted himself with helping Rin-Gin and while I had finished my own plate before going over to do the dishes, had I, when reporting this to mum and dad, found them just peacefully sleeping in one another's arms.

This, however, had not been the case last night as dad had been too determined to have a perfect wedding to take any risks, even if those risks were based on ancient traditions and hearsay and so last night had actually been his first night back in his own hideout since he had been returned to us from Ancient Egypt.  
Of course, I know darn well that all the criminals who dad is close with had thrown him a major bachelor party as I know Uncle Bentley and Murray well enough to know they are just too proud of dad for finally getting his dream girl for them not to do something, yet for similar reasons had mum dropped us off at her parents' place.  
Part of me wonders what a cop like my mum would be doing on her bachelorette evening, yet another part – the six-year old little girl part within me – really just doesn't want to know and so, instead of that, do I focus on the here and now – more specifically, on the flower girl dress that Uncle Bentley designed for me.

At first it had been Dimitri Lousteau, who would have designed both my dress as well as the outfits for Sylvester, Uncle Bentley and Murray, yet after seeing the extravagant outfit that the iguana had wanted to design for my shelled uncle, had dad declined the offer with the news that even he wouldn't be that over-dressed.  
Uncle Dimitri had definitely been a little downtrodden to hear that his design couldn't come to life at the wedding, yet when he had seen the simple, yet masculine and elegant designs that Uncle Bentley had come up with, had he been both accepting of the decline as well as understanding where my dad had been coming from.

And I got to admit that, while the location itself is amazing extravagant, the décor is brilliantly simplistic with nothing more than some garlands, a few bows and groups of flowers decorating everything from the aisle, to the side of the benches that have been set and even the front parlor and the lowest part of the tower.  
Flowers, bows, ties and even pictures of mum and dad happily together, their heads leaning close to each other and their eyes locked onto each other with the love they both feel for their significant other very clear to see in each of these photos as they, together with the flowers, bows and ties, show off the wedding for all of Paris to see.  
Yes, dad knows how to mix simplistic designs with an extravagant setting perfectly and most of the guests who have decided to come have proven that they are very willing to answer to this call as they all wear simple dresses and suits, yet each of them has a single accessory that makes each individual really stand out.  
Whether it be a really outgoing hat, a huge flower for a corsage or even some kind of pin with great details showing on it stuck in one's hair, each of the guests has something that, while they are all seated, makes each of them stand out and show off their individuality, regardless of the huge crowd that has gathered.

Personally I'm a little nervous about all of the known criminals that are here, regardless of how they have been around us trice a year for several years now, yet the sight of my dad at the other end of the trial, his grey suit with black tie and silver cufflinks showing off his brown eyes and grey fur makes me feel more relaxed.  
Then I hear a deep breath being let out behind me and happily look at the only other person I am currently sharing a limo with as dad had arranged for mum to be picked up and brought to the wedding in style, yet he had also blinded the windows to make sure he could be fully surprised upon us leaving the vehicle here.

And surprised he will be as mum is just gorgeous. Her hair is tied up into three different buns at the back of her head with a transparent veil covering it that is attached to her hair with a beaded hairclip made of golden pearls, while a few locks are curling over her forehead and past each side of her face and her ears with golden earrings.  
She wears a golden necklace with a pearl-shaped bead hanging down the front and under this a trumpet-styled dress that has shoulder straps covering her upper arms, which consists of three streams of golden-white fabric with a golden pear in the center of her chest, from which the rest of her dress flows down.  
The dress itself is very simple and elegant, made of pure white silk and having layered golden silk going down from her left hip down to her right lower leg, the layered part attached to her dress by another golden pearl, while under this the white silk of her skirt flows down and makes her legs look gorgeously long and slim.  
A pair of elbow-length white gloves cover her hands and her hands themselves are currently clamping down on a gorgeous bouquet of white roses and marigolds, which is something dad had grandpa deliver to mum just this morning, telling us how dad had actually gotten up at 4 in the morning just to pluck each and every flower.

All in all mum looks gorgeous in a very simplistic and elegant way and still I know that, whether she had worn this or some over-the-top, overly extravagant, renaissance styled dress, dad will absolutely love the sight of seeing her step out of this limo and walk down to aisle to approach him, which makes me smile and ask:  
"You ready, mum? He's waiting." Making mum smile at me with a hint of gratitude in her loving smile, making me know she was on the verge of another possible moment of stress and self-doubt and I smile back at her before opening the door and taking my basket of white, gold and black rose petals as I leave the limo.

Instantly, upon my first step, does Uncle Dimitri – who had appointed himself the musical maestro after understanding why he couldn't design the outfits – start to play a simple portable piano, which Uncle Bentley teched up to give the iguana the chance to add some effects to his tunes – with the promise not to go too overboard.  
I then start to walk down the aisle and while part of me can barely believe that I am really here doing this, do I just feel like squealing when dad, after sending me a very happy and proud looking smile, almost loses his full composure as soon as his eyes gaze past me and see mum leaving the limo herself, grandpa helping her out.  
The man's eyes are wide and this makes everyone look at mum as well and while I walk down the aisle, do I just love how the eyes of almost all the man widen, while the eyes of all the woman turn teary, especially grandma who I happily join on the bench as soon as I finish my walk and having covered the path with the petals.

I then turn around and instantly bless all the pantheons for their weather gods and deities making this be such a beautiful, cloudless day as the sun shimmers through the iron bars of the Eifel Tower and with that make it so that, whenever mum walks into a beam of sunlight, all the gorgeous features of her looks and dress get accentuated.  
Then mum reaches dad and grandpa comes to join me and grandma before dad confuses most as he whispers: "You can let go now." And while most look confused, does dad then look down and do we see two metallic arms with clasps clamped around dad's ankles, of which the clamps let go and retreat into Uncle Bentley's wheelchair.  
Everyone looks at the turtle and dad confused and then dad whispers in mum's ear: "Bentley was sure I would lose composure and ravish you in the middle of the aisle, so he clamped down on me before you arrived here. And by the Thames, he was right." Making mum blush while some men snicker and a few women giggle.

Then the ceremony begins and Sylvester is the one to collect little Rin-Gin from dad's side of the aisle, the little baby looking just adorable in his little onesie suit with a tie that is attachable through a clip and who has the rings put into the breast pocket of the suit and the little one giggles as mum and dad take the rings from him.  
Mum is then the first to have a speech and says: "Sly. You're my Ringtail. You're the man who taught me what it meant to be a fighter for the law and justice. You were the criminal I was most determined to catch, yet who I never cared too much if he escaped me, as it only made me feel more excited for my next window of opportunity.  
And yet, you were more than that. You were the light that shone in the dark of my past. The one who made me feel as if I still had something that was me instead of what my kidnappers had made me. The one who, when it mattered, made me feel as if I had a chance to escape them and their plans for me, my family and future.  
And then, when I thought I had lost you for good, you proved me wrong and gave me – even without being there yourself – all the strength and pride that you always bring up in me, the strength I needed to fight for my freedom and the pride I felt in not just carrying your legacy, but helping them bring pride to both our names.

Everything that I find important of my past is something you play a significant role in, whether you are part of that memory or not and now, now you become my future. This day may be the present, but my future is you, our kids, our friends and everything you and I have yet to find, live through and experience together.  
I love you. I have loved you since the day I met you and I know I will love you until the day we join your parents and both of our ancestors. But until then, I am proud to call myself Endora Cooper, the new wife of the best Master Thief the long line of Coopers has ever seen and the mother of the next generation of Coopers."  
And with that, while halfway through I actually heard clamps shutting on themselves, which made me look down wide-eyed as the same clamps shut themselves around dad's ankles a second time, does mum happily slide a gorgeous white golden ring with amber brown stone at the center around dad's ring finger.

Dad then takes a deep breath himself and while only then do I notice how his hand is trembling with suppressed nerves and other emotions, does his voice seem to escape him the first time he opens his mouth to speak and while this makes a few of the criminals on the other side of the aisle snicker, does he then say:  
"Endora, I – I can never, have never and probably never will understand – what on earth I ever did to – to deserve someone like you. You, who makes me enjoy every minute of my life. You, who makes my day just by being part of it. You, who made me happy to be your one solid case as I enjoyed each and every chase we shared.  
You are gorgeous, you are determined, you are heart and headstrong, you are filled with a true sense of justice, you have a body that even super-models can probably die for, but most of all; you're you. And that is something I will cherish for the rest of my life as I just cannot imagine myself with anyone but you.  
I said it before, on the day I finally returned to this realm of time. I don't care. I don't care if your name is Carmelita Montoya Fox or Endora Bellamora. You are both those women, because you made them both someone. And that is the kind of strength and heart that make me feel blessed with every beat of my heart – because it beats for you."

And with that, while by now there is not a single female eye that isn't tearing up and while even some of the more caring males like Panda King and Dimitri and even Uncle Bentley and Murray are softly crying, does dad shed a tear of happiness of his own as he happily slides a golden ring with a purple amethyst on her finger.  
Panda King, who is indeed the one to marry my mum to my dad, then regains his own bearings and coughs to regain his dignity before he happily announces my parents married and the kiss the two share upon the end of his own speech speaks volumes; both of them only want to be with the other and no one else.  
Everyone tears up at seeing this, some of them even making sounds of appreciation and care as they see how deeply the two love each other and while I can't believe how lucky I am to be the daughter of two people as amazing as the fox and raccoon in front of me does Panda King speak when they part and say:

"Blessings and Honor to Sly and Endora Cooper." And everyone jumps out of their seats to cheer the two on, people throwing rice and fake coins made of silk and linen – which dad had requested as it was apparently a Cooper tradition – as dad gets a savy grin on his face before shocking mum as he pulls her off her feet.  
Mum yelps at this and then clamps her arms around dad as he happily takes her into his arms bridal style before dashing through the shower of soft coins and rice, the crowds cheering even louder as they see the groom dashing for the limo with his newly wedded bride in his arms and a grin of loving elation shown on his face.  
Dad then makes it worse by jumping into the limo's open door through a running leap and before the door closes, do I see dad distracting mum from a probable tirade by sealing her lips with yet another kiss, even though even my childish mind can see that there is much more than deep-sated love showing through this kiss.

This makes me smile and then, a little while later, have we all moved ourselves to another section of the Thames river, this part also completely barricaded and decorated in the same manner as the Eifel Tower and with portable walls hiding the sight of the reception area from uninvited guests or unwanted extras.  
The walls are all covered in the same picture of mum and dad, but then with the picture itself covered in a wreath of flowers and with a large bow at the bottom. The only places where these walls don't surround us is hallway down the bridge, giving us a beautiful view of the Thames on both sides of the reception area.

Mum and dad have already arrived by limo and mum has switched her necklace for her usual choker and has left her veil in the limo while her hair now cascades down her back and curls down her shoulders, the brown almost ruby red color looking even more beautiful due to the brilliant white of her wedding dress.  
Yet for some strange reason are people looking at the one spot above mum's choker that seems off-colored and the grins on the faces of the men confuse me, yet when dad spots these grins, does he send them a glare that demands them to behave and reminds them of where they are, making them look away with slight shame.  
I am sitting at the head table with mum and dad, along with Uncle Bentley, Murray, their families and grandpa and grandma. There are also two empty seats at the table that have the names Connor and Marilyn engraved into their marble backs and which have wreaths of white roses and lilies covering their seats.

The first course of the four-course meal that mum and dad worked on together to pick out has just passed up and a few of the officers working for the cafeteria at Interpol have been appointed as the ones to serve up and take away the plates with the meals as well as refill the drinks of whoever asks it off them throughout the night.

Then mum draws attention to herself as she softly taps her crystalline glass – which grandma has taken out of storage especially for this wedding together with all the other plates and silver wear – and when she has everyone's attention, does she stand up and wipe imaginary dust off her dress before addressing the crowd and says:  
"Thank you, everyone. This is, was and forever will be a wedding that has so far exceeded my expectations, dreams and childlike fantasies, I feel like a little five-year old girl that just got told she would play a supporting role in her favorite Disney princess movie. And that would be if I understated how I currently feel."  
This makes many people smile even wider at my mum and she takes a deep breath, covering her torso with her clasped hands as she says: "However, I didn't draw your attention for that. I drew your attention, because I want to let you all know something that can be considered a sequel to one of the lines of my wedding vows."

This draws everyone's attention and for some reason, do I feel my eyes wandering to where my mum is still covering her torso with her hands before she turns to dad and says: "Sly, at the wedding, I called myself the mother of the next generation of Master Thieves – and I am about to add another chapter to that part of our story."  
This confuses me, but shocks everyone bar Rin-Gin, Lima and Sylvester as they share in my confusion and then, while tears start to gather and spill down mum's eyes, which would have worried me were it not for the elated smile that also covers her face, does she say: "Sly – we're having another baby. I – I – I'm pregnant."  
And to this a deafening silence fills the reception area, the only sound that can be heard being the sound of the water as the Thames flows on under our feet before suddenly mum is back in her seat, her own lap covered by dad as he wildly kisses her lips and wraps his arms around mum's waist like a steel cage of elation.

Mum lets out a single yelp of shock at this happening, but then moans as she happily accepts dad's love and happiness and shares it with her own and these two sounds bring everyone else out of their stupor, making for a second wave of excited and elated cheers to ring through the crowd as they celebrate this news.  
Personally I am just holding onto Sylvester as the boy had jumped out of his seat, pulled me out of mine and is now twirling me around while shouting his elation for all of the crowds and the world to hear and even Rin-Gin, who probably doesn't get what is going on, is happily clapping his hands and making elated baby sounds.

Then everyone calms down and when mum and dad break their kiss, does dad slide down until he has his ear pressed against mum's stomach and while he kneels down in front of her, does he whisper: "A baby. Another little Cooper. Are – are you sure? Have you – have you felt anything? Can I – how long did you know?"  
And while many are now smiling at how elated and amazed dad sounds in his rambling, does mum answer: "Yes Sly, I wouldn't have said this if I wasn't sure. I haven't felt him or her yet, but my signs so far have been similar to when I was pregnant of Rin-Gin and Dorea and I have known for the last month now."  
This makes dad look up and he asks: "Why didn't you tell me?" To which mum happily pulls him up, gives him a soft kiss full of love and whispers: "Because I wanted to give you the perfect wedding gift. And Sly, before you even say anything, you said to consider this wedding your wedding gift to me and it is just as perfect."  
This both shocks me as I had no idea that dad had been paying for the entire wedding and makes dad tear up yet again before he kisses her one last time and then retakes his seat, yet when he does, does grandpa snap his fingers and say: "Aw snap, and here I was hoping I could be the one to give you two the perfect wedding gift."

Everyone looks at the man and he smiles as he says: "Well, if nothing else, I at least have a good opening now. After all, I know you have Rin-Gin, Sylvester and Dorea, but how would you both like to raise your whole offspring, present and future, in Hawaii?" The question itself confusing everyone but a smirking grandma.  
"Hawaii? Why Hawaii?" Uncle Murray then asks and grandpa shrugs as he says: "Oh, I don't know. To hold true to Cooper family history, perhaps?" And with that does he throw something at dad, the man confused, but not too much so not to catch the item and when he opens his hand, do I see an ancient American dollar coin.  
This alone doesn't make me understand where grandpa is going with this anymore, yet dad seems to recognize the coin as his eyes widen before grandpa leans back in his seat and says: "They're all waiting for you, you know. To show Sylvester around and start your own section and whatnot. All of it restored and ready for the future."

And this seems to make sense to mum as her own eyes widen as well before she looks from the strange coin to her father and says: "Dad, you didn't." But grandpa nods and then Sylvester asks: "Didn't what?" And dad's answer shocks the whole scene silent yet again: "He – he restored the – the Cooper Vault."  
And with that, while many eyes now look from mum and dad, to grandma and grandpa, to the chairs representing dad's parents, does the same silence as when mum announced her pregnancy fall over the crowd for a second time, the Thames now sounding even louder than it did last time and my own eyes gazing at the coin in shock.

 _ **Seven months later**_

"Life has been just so perfect." Is the first thought that goes through my mind as I feel someone trying to wake me, the sweet curves and round belly making me smile as the only one who feels so full of life and perfection can only be my own wife of seven months and the mother of my fourth child to date; Endora Cooper.  
Yet while this feeling makes me slowly arouse from the grasps of sleep into the realm of drowsy awareness, do I then hear Endora say five words that instantly make me skip several other realms and stages and make me leap to full awareness as her trembling voice hisses in pain and says: "Sly, my water just broke."  
And instantly I am leaping to action, having practiced what to do for the last two months with Murray's wife Terry, who had announced her own pregnancy four months after the wedding and is due in four months from now and after rushing through the evening gown I have on the side of my bed, do I turn to my wife.

Endora's side of the bed, shockingly enough, is already soaked with a mix of blood and water and I realize that she must have wanted to keep me sleeping as I suddenly see the alarm clock showing it to be 2:45 in the night, yet it seems that she has underestimated the slightly larger size of her stomach, slightly larger than the last three times.  
At this I want to get angry at her as we had agreed I would be with her through the entire event, yet the way that she has her hands clasped around the large bulge that is my soon to be born son or daughter – as we had agreed to keep the gender a surprise until the date of birth – takes any chance of my anger to foster away in a flash.

Instead of that, do I rush at her, using the same technique I had used when we finished our ceremony and scoop her in my arms, not at all caring that she is a good 12 pounds heavier than she was when wearing her gorgeous dress and while rushing for the door to the living room, do I hear her gasp: "My dress, please."  
I nod at her and while she clamps her arms around my neck with a slightly painful grip, do I use my now free arm to press into my ear and tap exactly the set of tunes that would let a newly placed alarm go off in all the ear-communicators of my friends, not loud enough to shock them, but still loud enough to wake and alert them.  
I then rush through the house, picking up three bags and moving them across both arms before peaking through the cracks in the three doors behind which I see my kids still sleeping and while using my empty arm a second time to send a second alarm at Endora's mother to let her come here and watch the kids, do I then leave the house.

Luckily enough are we in the heart of summer and so the door to the raised veranda of the beach home where we have moved to after the wedding is open, allowing me leave the house without alerting any of my kids and while my arms now feel slightly heavy with my pregnant wife, do I then dash out of the house.  
I jump and while my arms start to feel slightly heavy with my pregnant wife, do I use the momentum of me landing on the veranda bar to jump even higher and feel blessed that, while we may live in a more solitary spot on the Hawaiian island, that our land is mostly secluded from the rest of society by large banana and coconut trees.  
My momentum then easily allows me to reach the top of one of the lower ones of these trees and from this one, do I happily dash to the others, steeling the grip in my arms to make sure I don't jostle my conceiving wife too much and while Endora whispers sweet nothings to her stomach and compliments to me, do I keep dashing.

At the end of the forest do I use a large tree that has been swept sideways by the last summer storm to slide down to the ground and then, silent as the night we are in, do I rush into town, loving how we found an island off the Hawaiian coast that barely ever has large groups of tourists or even the same amounts as the more popular islands.  
Because of this were we able to find a small cottage that was single story and which had been build when our part of the island was still known for grassland and swamps, yet the heating of the temperature had made the water evaporate and for a large beach to grow out of the wetlands, giving us a gorgeous ocean view.  
Off the side to this had a small group of tourists, who had no interest in sightseeing and who had emigrated from Europe to find their fortune in the huge metropolis known as America, settled themselves and had a small town, which was sometimes visited for its quiet peaceful solitude, been founded several decades ago.

Then I bless my lucky stars for the last time as a hospital had been build on our side of the small town and I whisper: "Almost there, my gorgeous. Just keep that little one busy a little longer." And while she sends me a mock-glare, does Endora then continue her spiel as I dash up the upraised, curving driveway to the hospital.  
There I see a very familiar van and I whisper: "Good, Murray is here. He probably alerted Alexandra already. We're one step closer to having our child with us, love." And this makes Endora send the blue van a tired, but grateful smile before I dash indoors and instantly get greeted by a leopard with brown fur and blonde spots.  
The nurse instantly rolls me a wheelchair and I gently set Endora down into it before nodding at her, knowing its hospital rules for the father not to be in the delivery room – which had almost made Endora switch hospitals were it not for location purposes – and then follow the two to the closest waiting area.

 _ **An Hour Later**_

I am just so lucky to have two people who are both members of my team as well as my surrogate brothers as Bentley, Murray and their families have come to keep me company while Endora gives birth to our new little one and by now do I know that it is only because of them that I have yet to have a nervous breakdown.  
The reason behind this is because the walls of this hospital are all but the thickest and so I have been able to hear all the screams and shouts of pain that come from my beloved wife as she goes through the delivery and some of them are actually accompanied by curses that make me fear her more than any foe I have ever faced before.  
Yet Bentley and Murray had told me that this was common practice amongst practically all delivering mothers and their wives, Terry and Eleanor, further confirmed this, actually joking about the kind of threats they had shouted at their other halves while giving birth to Matthew and Angelina respectively, which had appeased my concerns.

Yet even all that isn't enough to keep me from finally giving into my slowly growing frazzled nerves and so, for the last ten minutes, mostly because the delivery room has suddenly become scarily quiet, have I been pacing in front of my two friends and their wives, all of them silently letting me do so with acceptance on their faces.  
"Why? Why is it so quiet? What happened? Where did her shouting go to? Why isn't she still cursing me? What's going on in there?" I can't help but mutter and then a female voice asks: "Why don't you come in and find out, Mr. Cooper?" Making me look up and making my eyes widen at the door to the delivery room being open.

"I guess what happened is that Endora has had the baby. Go on in, Sly." Bentley happily encourages me and for the first time since the wedding do I suddenly feel as if I am on the verge of stepping from one timezone into another, from one world of society into the next, yet knowing that my wife wants me makes me push on.  
I take a deep breath to steel my nerves and while part of me wonders if, by chance, Endora has her shockgun on hand, do I silently commit myself to all the threats and promises she shouted at the nurses as she delivered while moving past the nurse at the open doorway and into the delivery room, over to my wife.

And what a sight does she make. Her brown hair is plastered to her hospital gown and her head, her hospital gown is stuck to her incredible curves and has splatters of wetness and blood at the bottom and in her arms is a small brown and baby-blue striped blanket, the second color making my eyes widen before I spot it.  
That glint in Endora's eyes, which isn't just one of a mother lying her first gaze upon her newborn child, but has a hidden undertone of inner amusement and playfulness hidden deep within the loving gaze and instantly my mind goes full power before I come to the conclusion and ask: "Is it – is – is she – is she healthy?"  
And while the way that Endora frowns at me proves me that I am right in my deduction, does she then sigh and ask: "There really is no fooling you, is there Ringtail?" And while the calling of that little nickname gives me good hope that I might not need to come true to all the threats, do I smile and walk over as I say:  
"Not with that glint of playful amusement you were trying and failing to hide gleaming in your eyes, gorgeous. Now, how is she?" Yet the answer doesn't come from my wife, but from the little one bundled up as a single, sweet sound comes from the opening of the bundled up blanket, drawing each of our attention.

I draw closer to the two, tentative in my desire not to startle either the child or aggravate the mother and then get my first peak. A little vixen, one with the ears and nose of a raccoon and with a very soft mask of pale grey fur already growing around her closed eyes sleeps in her mother's arms, her fur a gorgeous mix of orange and brown.

My eyes widen and my mouth drops as I see just how small the little one is, even several inches smaller than Rin-Gin and as I look, does the little one scrunch up her black-colored button nose and as she does, do my eyes widen again as two stripes, one albino white, the other black, are colored above the little one's nose.  
"She – she – she." And while a good three to four million words in hundreds of languages rush through my mind, do none of them feel as if they actually suit what I want to say to describe how ethereally adorable and unbelievably gorgeous she looks, yet Endora seems to understand as she smiles: "She's a Cooper."  
And while it has been so many years since I first met this vixen, so many years since I started courting her, lost my heritage for her, almost lost her, lost my chance with her for almost nine years and been more than a year since I returned to her, can I still not believe my ears as I hear her say these three simple words.

As to me those words are proof. Proof that Endora is mine. Proof that I have finally fully fulfilled the legacy given to me by my father. Proof that I am truly home with all the ones I love. And proof that, regardless of all the hardships and disagreements we've had in the past, Endora Bellamora loves me as much as I love her.  
And with that do I gently, with a little touch of fear for hurting my newborn daughter, take the little vixen girl into my arms and look at her while whispering: "I know only one name for her." My wife looks at me and I whisper: "Rosaria, after the Bellamora daughter who used the Homing Crystal to bring me home."  
Endora's eyes widen and I whisper: "I had Bentley look her up." Making the vixen smile at my crippled friend before she tries getting up and I quickly help her before she looks at our daughter and whispers: "Welcome to the family, Rosaria Cooper." Making everyone in the room smile at the newborn vixen.

 _ **The end!**_

* * *

 _ **LOVE THIS ENDING!  
**_ _ **I mean it, the whole story remained simple and there weren't really any hardships or complicated events, yet at the same time the story flowed brilliantly and I really got the feeling as if I was DOrea during the wedding and Sly when the baby was about to be born. And personally, I just hope I gave you the same feeling.  
**_ _ **Now, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, now that I have two stories finished, I will be using the time I no longer have to spend on these stories on re-editing the Reading Series, which is a Harry Potter-Yu-Gi-Oh crossover and a CR story. The bad news, I won't post it until I have properly re-edited several chapters.  
**_ _ **I'm truly sorry for those of you who have been asking me about this series and that I am now asking you to be patient a little while longer, but I can promise you that, if nothing else, I will be bulk-posting a whole lot of chapters for either both the Reading Series and Preventing or just Preventing on Christmas.  
**_ _ **Stay patient,**_

 _ **Venquine1990  
PS. If this finished story is your absolute favorite, please vote on it in my new poll. Thanks in advance.**_


End file.
